Jayalalithaa to be CM of Tamil Nadu for third term

AIADMK General Secretary Jayalalithaa will take over as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu today for a third term. She will be sworn-in along with 33 others in her Cabinet. The swearing-in ceremony of the 63-year-old leader will take place at the historic Madras University's centenary auditorium at 12.15 PM. The decision of the swearing-in ceremony and the ministers to be inducted was taken at a meeting Jayalalithaa had with Governor S S Barnala yesterday. The meeting came after the 146 newly-elected AIADMK MLAs elected her the leader of the AIADMK legislature party.Her 25 of the 34 members to be sworn in today will be youngsters and new faces, it will also include veterans like O Pannerselvam who will hold Finance portfolio. The other old-timers include K A Sengottaiyan who will take over as Agriculture Minister.In keeping with Tamil Nadu's political practice, it will be a single-party government despite AIADMK winning the elections in alliance with some other parties. Jayalalithaa steered the AIADMK alliance to a spectacular victory in the elections by winning 200 of the total 234 seats.

After meeting the Governor, the AIADMK chief said her immediate priorities as Chief Minister will be to restore law and order, control prices and put the economy of the state back on track.
Jayalalilthaa had earlier ruled the state in 1991-96 and 2001-06.