One only had to be at Tamil Nadu Bhavan on Monday to figure that Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was in town,on her first visit to the Capital after the landslide that returned her to power. A frenzied crowd of fans,the majority of them women,gatecrashed the Bhavan to greet the Chief Minister. Security personnel had a tough time keeping them at bay. Tamil Nadu cadre IAS officers,on deputation in New Delhi,waved flower bouquets as they made a beeline to greet her. AIADMK members of Parliament waited in the verandah for the call to be led in. Rajya Sabha floor leader V Maitreyan led the team after the word finally came. His Lok Sabha counterpart,M Thambidurai,a former Union Law minister,was better off. He got in and out without difficulty. Catering had been outsourced to Hyatt Regency. The bearers and chefs too were screened thoroughly before being allowed entry into the CMs suite with food-laden trays. She is meeting only some personal friends and IAS officers, said a senior AIADMK leader who did not wish to be named. Those who came calling included Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit,BJP general secretary and chief spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad and CPI secretary D Raja. Dikshit,whose Congress party is aligned with the DMK,refused to speak to the media after the meeting. We reflected on the general political situation in the country, Prasad said. Jayalalithaa is scheduled to call on the Prime Minister and raise a host of issues concerning Tamil Nadu. She will address the media tomorrow.
