Tamil Nadu: Jayalalithaa seeks big win ahead of Assembly polls

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday started her campaign for the upcoming by-election at the RK Nagar Assembly constituency.

Addressing a huge public rally at Ennore Junction amidst frenzied slogan-shouting of 'Hail Puratchi Thalaivi' (Long Live Revolutionary Leader), Jayalalithaa said she was away from the ruling saddle for a short while "due to a politically motivated case."

She was referring to the Rs 66.66 crore disproportionate assets case in which she was convicted by a trial court in Bengaluru and subsequently acquitted by the Karnataka High Court.

"As a precursor to the Assembly elections, give the party founded by MG Ramachandran (MGR--hailed as a messiah by the poor in Tamil Nadu) a resounding victory with a big vote margin, you are everything for me. I assure I will relentlessly work towards fulfilling your expectations," she said.

The 67-year-old leader also took a swipe at rival CPI, a former ally which has put up a candidate against her, saying that party MLAs had heaped praise on various social welfare schemes initiated by the AIADMK.

However, they were now opposing her since they had put up a candidate, C Mahendran, she added.

Other opposition parties, DMK and BJP among others, whom she did not name, had stayed away from the bypoll as they were aware that "AIADMK cannot be defeated," she said while repeatedly insisting on a "grand victory" amidst loud cheering from the crowd.

Referring to her disqualification as Chief Minister last year following her conviction, she said there was a 'situation' wherein she could not be the CM due to a "politically motivated case."

She termed the bypoll as a 'compulsion', recalling how the electorate had given a resounding victory to her colleague P Vetrivel in the 2011 elections.

Vetrivel had vacated the seat in May apparently to enable Jayalalithaa seek re-election for fulfilling a constitutional requirement of getting elected as MLA within six months of becoming Chief Minister.

She returned to the top post on May 23 after securing an acquittal in the wealth case.