J Jayalalithaa & MGR temple in Madurai to be inaugurated by CM, Dy CM today

In the poll-bound state of Tamil Nadu, a temple built in the memory of late Tamil Nadu Chief Ministers J Jayalalithaa and MG Ramachandran in Madurai will be inaugurated on Saturday. The temple will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. On January 14, the Chief Minister had unveiled the life-size bronze statues of the former CMs at the newly-constructed temple. 

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On Wednesday, CM Palaniswami had also unveiled a memorial built for former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa at the Marina Beach in Chennai. The foundation of this phoenix themed memorial was laid three years ago in 2018. This was followed by another inauguration of the memorial at the late former CM's Poes Garden residence Veda Nilayam on Thursday. The former residence of the AIADMK stalwart was acquired by the state government in 2019 for Rs 67.9 crore following which its decision to convert it into a memorial was challenged by Jayalalithaa's niece and nephew J Deepa and J Deepak at the Madras High Court. 

Meanwhile, after spending four years in prison in Bengaluru for a disproportionate assets case, VK Sasikala was about free to walk out of the prison on Wednesday. However, she was faced with a temporary setback last week upon testing positive for Covid-19 and being admitted to Victoria Hospital. Her doctors have given the go-ahead to transfer her from the ICU ward.

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Tamil Nadu Assembly elections

Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu are due during April-May 2021 and the political parties have started their campaign. While DMK's MK Stalin is eyeing the Chief Minister seat, AIADMK has arrived at reconciliation between two warring factions - of Deputy CM O Pannerselvam (OPS) and CM E Palaniswami (EPS). Incumbent E Palaniswami has been named as its CM candidate and O Panneerselvam as the chief of the 11-member steering committee. The BJP is yet to make a formal announcement of the alliance with AIADMK and is in talks with Stalin's estranged brother MK Alagiri. On the other side, AIADMK has said that they are the big-brother within the NDA alliance and after a lot of deliberations, BJP has given in. Meanwhile, Kamal Hassan is on a campaign trail and Alagiri has said that the launch of his political party will be in January. Superstar Rajinikanth who was about to launch his party this year has backed out due to health reasons. 

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