New life-size statue of Jayalalithaa replaces the one that barely resembled her

Chennai: The ruling AIADMK unveiled a new statue of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa at its headquarters in Chennai on Wednesday, months after the earlier one was criticised for not resembling the former party supremo.

According to a party release, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and Joint Coordinator K Palaniswami paid floral tributes to the ‘refurbished’ statue of Jayalalithaa, in the presence of senior leaders, including MPs and state ministers.

Palaniswami is the chief minister of Tamil Nadu and Panneerselvam is his deputy.

The two leaders also felicitated sculptor Rajkumar Udayar who designed the statue, it said.

A life-size statue of the leader was unveiled by the two leaders on February 24, coinciding with Jayalalithaa’s 70th birth anniversary. However, it drew criticism from various quarters that it bore little resemblance to Jayalalithaa following which the party decided to go in for a new one.

Accordingly, the new statue was unveiled on Wednesday, and is placed near that of party founder and former chief minister MG Ramachandran at the entrance of the AIADMK headquarters.

The new life-size statue is made of bronze and weighs around 800 kg, a little more than the earlier one, party sources said.