CHENNAI: At a time when leaders of various political parties are singing paeans to former Chief Minister MG Ramachandran ahead of the Assembly elections, the AIADMK on Thursday vowed, "We won't let our (political) opponents hijack the legacy of our leader MGR."
The AIADMK's top leaders Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam, other senior leaders and cadre, after paying homage to the party founder MGR at his memorial on the Marina, took 14 pledges highlighting the glory of the late leader and promising to retain power for the third consecutive term in the state.
One of the pledges was significant in the backdrop of MNM founder Kamal Haasan heaping praises on MGR in recent times and actor Rajinikanth's promise to provide a governance akin to that of MGR.
"MGR has created a historic record by retaining power for three consecutive terms. He lived for the people and with the people. That is why people gave the opportunity to MGR to rule the state. We, the loyal volunteers of MGR, will not allow our opponents to appropriate MGR's legacy," read the pledge.
Another pledge noted that MGR had implemented welfare schemes to uplift women, farmers, weavers, fishermen, students and workers. "These schemes should continue and for that the AIADMK government should continue. We pledge to work to achieve that," it said.
Panneerselvam read out the pledges and Palaniswami, the party's presidium chairman E Madhusudanan and others repeated them. Later, they observed silence for a minute to pay their homage to MGR.
Earlier in the day, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam paid homage to the late leader at their residences by offering tributes to the portrait of MGR. In New Delhi, on behalf of the AIADMK, party MPs A Vijayakumar and N Chandrasekaran paid floral tributes at the statue of MGR in the Parliament complex.
AMMK deputy general secretary TTV Dhinakaran and his party cadre came in a procession and paid homage to MGR at his memorial. BJP state president L Murugan and his party cadre also paid homage at the MGR memorial, a release from the BJP said.
Meanwhile, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam, in their tweets, paid rich tributes to Periyar on his death anniversary.