'I can only say that I will put my best foot forward,' Deepa Jayakumar tells Rediff.com's A Ganesh Nadar.
Deepa Jayakumar said she has decided to follow in her aunt's footsteps and will announce her next political step on Jayalaithaa's birth anniversary on February 24.
"We will work together jointly as two hands of AIADMK in future for the people of Tamil Nadu. He asked for justice. I too ask the same," Deepa told reporters.
As many as 145 nominations were received from aspirants seeking to contest the bypoll. Currently, scrutiny of nominations is on and an official update on the total number of papers accepted and rejected is expected later. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is December 7.
"I could not even stay at my house and goons are being sent against me. I do not know who (goons) they are...," Jayakumar said.
The Madras high court on Wednesday set aside an order of the previous AIADMK regime to convert late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's residence, 'Veda Nilayam' in Chennai as a memorial.
J Deepa, niece of late chief minister of Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa, officially received the keys to the Poes Garden residence of her aunt on Friday, bringing to close a protracted legal battle to obtain the custody of the palatial building.
K Madhavan launched MGR Jayalalithaa DMK Kazhagam after paying his respects to Jayalalithaa and MGR at their memorials at the Marina beac
Deepa filed her papers before polling officer Pravin Nair after paying respects at the memorial of Jayalalithaa.
"The nomination that I filed has been accepted. I thank the Election Commission," the actor said.
In his order, the poll authority said required number of proposers had not validly proposed the candidature of Vishal Krishna and that the actor had been proposed only by eight valid proposers.
Jayalalithaa was the third chief minister in Tamil Nadu to die in office, after her mentor M G Ramachandran (1987) and before that his mentor C N Annadurai (1969). The state government should have evolved protocols for the medical care of the incumbent, and institutional memory should have guided the government and officials in the matter, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Karunanidhi, 94, died at the Kauvery hospital on Tuesday following prolonged illness.
The faction led by O Panneerselvam will be referred to as 'AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma' and the Sasikala faction will be referred to as 'AIADMK Amma'.
The AIADMK propaganda secretary also claimed "Panneerselvam is instable." State minister C Ve Shanmugam called Panneerselvam "a betrayer".
Jayalalithaa's nephew Deepak Jayakumar claimed that the late AIADMK chief had left behind her properties to him and his sister.
Panneerselvam said Sasikala is only a 'temporary general secretary' and proper elections have to be held to elect new party chief.
There is no denying that the Deepa identity has overnight caught the people's imagination across the state. But converting that into an imagery and from there as support and vote-base is a different matter altogether, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The twin announcements have virutally cleared the decks for the merger of the two factions.
If anyone is targeting Sasikala or the AIADMK, then they should be looking elsewhere, not at Deepa for leading a revolt successfully, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The jallikattu issue has revived pan-Tamil political sentiments especially among youths, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Whatever the circumstances the cadres will not let themselves be seen as challenging 'MGR's symbol'. It's an emotional identification for most of them, and many consider it an 'eternal sin' for them to defy 'Two Leaves', says N Sathiya Moorthy.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances