Jayalalithaa to make public appearance on May 22

 AIADMK general secretary and former Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa will make a public appearance on May 22, perhaps the first time in seven months, the party said on Tuesday.

The AIADMK said Jayalalithaa would offer floral tributes to the party's founder M.G.Ramachandran's (MGR) statue, and DMK founder C.N. Annadurai's and DK founder E.V. Ramaswamy's statues here that day.

Also on May 22, the AIADMK has called a meeting of its legislators at the party headquarters here.

Though the agenda has not been specified, it is widely believed that Jayalalithaa may be elected leader of the AIADMK legislature party, paving the way for her to become the chief minister again.

On Sunday, P. Vetrivel, a party legislator from Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency here, resigned his post.

With his resignation, the AIADMK strength in the 234-seat assembly comes down by one to 150, excluding the speaker.

While these developments indicate that Jayalalithaa is all gearing up to become the chief minister again, there is no official confirmation.

Jayalalithaa lost her chief minister's post and assembly (Srirangam constituency) seat after she was convicted by a trial court in Bengaluru for holding assets disproportionate to her known sources of income.

The Karnataka High Court upheld her appeal against the conviction and acquitted her. Even after that she did not make any public appearance. - IANS