Jaya statue comes up in Thanjai overnight, surprises public, officials

The statue located next to MGR’s was unveiled by Jayalalithaa during the eighth world Tamil Conference held in Thanjavur in January 1995. Both the statues were seen with garlands. The granite stones on the pedestal did not have any names of the organisations which erected the statue.

Sources said the MGR statue was seen covered for the last few weeks reportedly for maintenance work. However, the Jayalalithaa statue was stealthily erected there overnight on Monday.

When contacted, corporation officials expressed their ignorance and said the land where the statues stood did not belong to the civic body.

Meanwhile, opposing the statue on the grounds that Jayalalithaa was convicted in a case, a few activists contacted DRO N Sakthivel over the issue as the district collector was away for a meeting. The DRO is said to have told them that he would ascertain whether permission was granted for the statue.