This Week Tamil Nadu

Jaya sets out to sweep Chennai clean

Having given the stick to the former rulers,new Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has taken up the broom. Her new government has promised to clean up Chennai,a fast-growing metropolis reeling under urban pollution and mountains of garbage. Making the loudest statement about the administrations intent was Jayas aerial survey of the city on a helicopter last week. Accompanied by senior officials,she inspected dumping yards before finalising a plan to deal with thousands of tonnes of sold waste. Later,she made a suo motu statement in the Assembly about a special,three-month mass cleaning drive. Beyond this intense,war-foot measure,the government is chalking out a comprehensive plan to deal with the management of sold waste,including an ambitious aim to earn carbon credits.

Alagiri vs Stalin,a battle forever

That DMK patriarch M Karunanidhis sons,Union Minister M K Alagiri and the younger M K Stalin,are at loggerheads over succession is well known. It was therefore not surprising that when Stalin landed at the Madurai airport,none from the elder brothers inner circle turned up to receive him. Stalin was in south Tamil Nadu,once the fiefdom of Alagiri,to meet party men arrested and imprisoned by the new government over land-grabbing charges. Local party chieftains including a district secretary and the city mayor who function under the satrap stayed away,setting tongues wagging yet again about the brothers relationship. It was left to other senior leaders to be receive Stalin at the airport.

Non-believers get marching orders

It is not just alleged land grabbers who are facing the heat following Jayas return to power. The new government has asked the trustees of hundreds of temples,who had been appointed by the previous regime,to step down from these posts. The reasons are two fold,political and a matter of faith. The ruling party and allies have charged the rationalist DMK with having appointed non-believers in temples. When a legislator from her alliance partner DMDK pointed out in the Assembly that the DMK had appointed atheists as the trustees,Jaya assured him that the government has directed the trustees and temple committee members to put in their papers. Those who didnt would be expelled.

Cong factions fight for Thangkabalu post

Trust the Congress to organise intra-party competitions to keep the game running even after losing the contest. After losing all but five of the 63 Assembly seats it contested,the Congress camp has found its voice again. As the high command is yet to take a decision on the TNCC president KV Thangkabalus resignation or announce a replacement,second-rung leaders from rival factions have begun their own moves. A few have floated a forum called Party Restructuring Committee to put forth a few names to be considered as a new leader of the state unit,leading to skirmishes between rebels and existing office-bearers when both groups jostled at the state headquarters.