<p>As AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha remains incarcerated in a Bangalore prison, a debate is raging in Tamil Nadu’s political circles over whether schemes she implemented as chief minister under the “Amma” tag can be allowed to continue.<br /><br /></p>.<p>While the ruling AIADMK has maintained that the “Amma” schemes were initiated by the Tamil Nadu government and were not intended to refer to Jayalalitha, the opposition, including the DMK, has said that further implementation of these projects should be challenged in court.<br /><br />A senior functionary from the AIADMK said: “The word ‘Amma’ in Tamil means mother or is a respectful reference to women and even children. It should not be construed that the government schemes were being named after Jayalalitha.”<br /><br />Pointing out that the Central government currently has over 450 schemes named after former prime ministers, he said and that the “Amma” programmes had been implemented only to benefit the people of Tamil Nadu and would continue under the proxy Jayalalitha has appointed to run the government.<br /><br />However, former DMK politician M Subramaniam has said that current Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Panneerselvam should look closely at Jayalalitha’s image being given a display while implementing schemes.<br /><br />“This is not the government run by Jayalalitha and moreover, she has been convicted. It is the moral responsibility of the new government under Panneerselvam to at least remove Jayalalitha’s picture while implementing the ‘Amma’ schemes,” said Subramaniam, who is also a former mayor of Chennai.<br /><br />After her party came to power in May 2011, Jayalalitha had started schemes such as the Amma Canteen, which sells food at subsidised rates, Amma bottled water for Rs 10 and Amma Pharmacy that sells medicines at cheap rates. <br /><br />In addition, she had also launched several welfare measures with distribution of freebies, including laptops, rice at ration shops, mixer-grinders, and schemes for cow and milch.<br /><br />Revenue department sources here, however, said that the state government had already purchased the products for distribution under the schemes which bear Jayalalitha’s image on a sticker.</p>
<p>As AIADMK chief J Jayalalitha remains incarcerated in a Bangalore prison, a debate is raging in Tamil Nadu’s political circles over whether schemes she implemented as chief minister under the “Amma” tag can be allowed to continue.<br /><br /></p>.<p>While the ruling AIADMK has maintained that the “Amma” schemes were initiated by the Tamil Nadu government and were not intended to refer to Jayalalitha, the opposition, including the DMK, has said that further implementation of these projects should be challenged in court.<br /><br />A senior functionary from the AIADMK said: “The word ‘Amma’ in Tamil means mother or is a respectful reference to women and even children. It should not be construed that the government schemes were being named after Jayalalitha.”<br /><br />Pointing out that the Central government currently has over 450 schemes named after former prime ministers, he said and that the “Amma” programmes had been implemented only to benefit the people of Tamil Nadu and would continue under the proxy Jayalalitha has appointed to run the government.<br /><br />However, former DMK politician M Subramaniam has said that current Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Panneerselvam should look closely at Jayalalitha’s image being given a display while implementing schemes.<br /><br />“This is not the government run by Jayalalitha and moreover, she has been convicted. It is the moral responsibility of the new government under Panneerselvam to at least remove Jayalalitha’s picture while implementing the ‘Amma’ schemes,” said Subramaniam, who is also a former mayor of Chennai.<br /><br />After her party came to power in May 2011, Jayalalitha had started schemes such as the Amma Canteen, which sells food at subsidised rates, Amma bottled water for Rs 10 and Amma Pharmacy that sells medicines at cheap rates. <br /><br />In addition, she had also launched several welfare measures with distribution of freebies, including laptops, rice at ration shops, mixer-grinders, and schemes for cow and milch.<br /><br />Revenue department sources here, however, said that the state government had already purchased the products for distribution under the schemes which bear Jayalalitha’s image on a sticker.</p>
