AIADMK asks cadres to take up pro-poor welfare activities,

Days ahead of its late supremo J Jayalalithaa's 72nd birth anniversary, the ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday appealed to its cadres to celebrate the event by organising blood donation and medical camps and take up welfare activities that would help the poor.

Top party leaders O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami will lead the celebrations on February 24 by garlanding a statue of the late chief minister at the AIADMK headquarters here, a party release said here.

Chief Minister Palaniswami is the AIADMK joint coordinator while his deputy Paneerselvam is the coordinator.

The release said Jayalalithaa had always urged her supporters to shun grandeur during her birthday celebrations and therefore party workers should mark the day by taking up welfare activities that would benefit the poor.

As part of this, they should organise blood donation camps, eye donation activities, medical camps and various events for students and distribute aid to them and conduct free marriages and feed those at old age homes among others, it added.

An actor-turned politician, Jayalalithaa took over the reins of AIADMK after the demise of her mentor and party founder M G Ramachandran (MGR) in the late 80s and became chief minister for the first time in 1991.

Known for her remarkable comebacks, she had led the party to victories in the assembly elections in 2001, 2011 and 2016.

Jayalalitha, known as "Puratchi Thalaivi" (revolutionary leader) among her supporters, died on December 5, 2016.