Matinee idol and AIADMK founder the late M G Ramachandran has assumed life-like colour on the Dravidian political canvas again. If a jittery Jayalalithaa thought it fit to visit his Thottam, MGR’s Ramavaram Garden residence, on his birth anniversary on Thursday, then it is only to try and stave off the various claimants to the MGR legacy and stake a ‘rightful’ claim.

“We are MGR’s true political heirs. We are running the party founded by him. I am its leader and general secretary. No one else can lay claim to his legacy,” Jayalalithaa told party workers, after MGR’s adopted children gave her a warm reception for the first time at his residence.

Apparently, Jayalalithaa’s much planned visit to Ramavaram Garden was only to clear the air and reiterate her claim to the party legacy. Clarifying that she had last paid a visit 12 years ago to the residence to visit MGR’s wife Janaki, Jayalalithaa said the AIADMK was the real heir and that the party members had every right to visit the house of their leader.

Lashing out at the ‘new claimants’ to his legacy, Jayalalithaa retorted: “Instant coffee can be made, but not instant leaders. People knew very well who the true heirs of MGR were and this would be proved at the time of election. They will be rejected with the contempt they deserve.” Jayalalithaa’s outbursts come in the wake of attempts by actors-turned-politicians Vijayakant and Sarat Kumar to cash in on the MGR mania and make inroads into the film-crazed vote-bank which still sees him as the AIADMK’s pivotal force.

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