Jayalalithaa was unanimously re-elected as AIADMK general secretary for the seventh time on Friday.
Soon after her formal election at the party headquarters here, Ms. Jayalalithaa, who is in her third term as Chief Minister, said her party was now without enemies after a string of victories in elections in recent years. “In the political field, there is no trace of enemies. They have disappeared into the oblivion,” she said, quoting poet Bharathidasan’s line, “ yengal pagaivar engo marainthar .”
Ms. Jayalalithaa, who has been holding the post for the past 26 years, said the AIADMK’s victory in the 2011 Assembly elections and in the subsequent local bodies elections was a historic feat. “Again in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, we created history that cannot be replicated by anyone, and we are in a situation in which we have no enemies now,” she said.
Ms. Jayalalithaa said the party had the overwhelming support of the people of the State. “Our sole motive is to work for the people and their welfare,” she said, urging that her partymen continue to work in unison.
Thanking the workers for reposing faith in her again, she said she was moved by their gesture.
She also announced her party’s candidates for the local bodies by-elections scheduled for September 18.
The AIADMK’s Coimbatore city unit secretary, Ganapathy P. Kumar, is the candidate for Coimbatore Mayor. The Tirunelveli district women’s wing assistant secretary, E. Bhuvaneswari, is the candidate for Tirunelveli, and the Tuticorin district women’s wing assistant secretary, A.P.R. Antony Graci, is the candidate for Tuticorin.
