AIADMK founder MGR remembered on his 104th birth anniversary

Haasan garlanded a statue of MGR and paid richtributes to him.Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretaryTTV Dhinakaran was among the others who paid floral tributesto a statue of the leader here.In Tamil Nadu, Assembly elections are due duringApril-May this year.M G Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR was the ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu between 1977-87.

AIADMK founder and former ChiefMinister M G Ramachandran was paid rich tributes andremembered on his 104th birth anniversary on Sunday byleaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

''Bharat Ratna MGR lives in the hearts of severalpeople. Be it the world of films or politics, he was widelyrespected,'' Modi tweeted.

''During his CM tenures, he initiated numerous effortstowards poverty alleviation and also emphasised on womenempowerment. Tributes to MGR on his Jayanti,'' the primeminister said.

Leading the birth anniversary celebrations in TamilNadu, Chief Minister K Palaniswami said the late leaderslogged for the welfare of the people and devised many schemesfor the benefit of poor and ordinary people.

Deputy Chief Minister O Panneersevlam, showeringencomiums on MGR, said the former Chief Minister lived in thehearts of the people.

Panneerselvam and Palaniswami, coordinator andco-coordinator of AIADMK respectively visited the partyheadquarters here and garlanded the statue of MGR and hoistedthe party flag. The two top party leaders distributed sweetsto the cadres and gave away welfare assistance tobeneficiaries.

AIADMK functionaries organised functions in severalparts of the state, paid floral tributes to the lateleader and held mass feeding programmes.

In Puducherry, Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, CongressMLAs and AIADMK office-bearers, A Anbalagan and Om SakthiSegar were among those who paid homage to the late leader.

In Delhi, AIADMK Rajya Sabha member A Vijayakumargarlanded the statue of MGR in the Parliament premises, aparty release said.

Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan, who latched onto the late leader's welfare legacy in his ongoing pollpropaganda denied that he had 'all of a sudden' clung on toMGR's legacy. Haasan garlanded a statue of MGR and paid richtributes to him.

Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam general secretaryTTV Dhinakaran was among the others who paid floral tributesto a statue of the leader here.

In Tamil Nadu, Assembly elections are due duringApril-May this year.

M G Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR was the ChiefMinister of Tamil Nadu between 1977-87. He joined the DMK inthe early 1950s inspired by its founder C N Annadurai andpropagated the party ideology in his films.

A superstar and colossus of the Tamil film world (from1950's to mid-1970's), MGR founded the AIADMK in 1972following differences with then party top leader and ChiefMinister M Karunanidhi.

Born on January 17, 1917, MGR died on December 24,1987.PTI VGN KR COR SSPTI PTI