Jayalalithaa chairs first cabinet meet since becoming CM again

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Monday convened a meeting of her cabinet, the first after she returned to the top post following her acquittal in a wealth case in May this year.

She also chaired a meeting of her party MPs, just a day ahead of the monsoon session of Parliament.

Jayalalithaa gave 'advice' to her party MPs on how to perform in the monsoon session, an AIADMK release said.

However, it comes in the backdrop of speculations that the government could soon convene the assembly session to debate the grants for various departments, even as the Budget was presented in March.

Opposition DMK had also demanded that the session be convened immediately to discuss various issues.

This was the Jayalalithaa government's first cabinet meeting after she became CM on May 23 following the AIADMK supremo winning an appeal against her conviction by a lower court in the Rs 66.66 crore disproportionate assets case.

The Karnataka high court had acquitted her of all charges in the case, which had led to her disqualification as chief minister and MLA.

She later won the RK Nagar bypoll with an impressive margin against the CPI, thus returning as a legislator.

Jayalalithaa later chaired a meeting of her party MPs, apparently to finalise AIADMK's strategy in Parliament, which is meeting for its monsoon session starting on Tuesday.

The NDA government is preparing for an opposition onslaught on various issues, including its controversial Land Bill, Vyapam scam in BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh and 'Lalitgate'.

Though AIADMK had voted in favour of the Land Bill when it was moved in the Lok Sabha, Jayalalithaa had recently asked the Centre not to press with the amendments, saying the provisions allowing states to exempt schemes from Social Impact Assessment, among others, were being opposed by her state's farmers.

The AIADMK has 37 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 11 in the Rajya Sabha.