Jayalalithaa sacks 3 ministers, rejigs ministry

Taking stock of performers and non-performers in the assembly polls, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa showed the door to three ministers who slipped up and prevented her scoring a better tally.

Taking stock of performers and non-performers in the assembly polls, AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa showed the door to three ministers who slipped up and prevented her scoring a better tally.

S Damodaran, KT Patchamal and DV Ramana were among those to face the axe. The three ministers dropped from the TN council of ministers were in charge of the three seats AIADMK lost — Kanyakumari, Dharmapuri in TN and the lone seat of neighbouring Puducherry.

She also sacked the district secretaries in these three constituencies for their inefficiency and failure to deliver.

Setting an example of one who punishes non-performers but rewards achievers, she inducted three party men who contributed to electoral achievement of the AIADMK.

Prominent among that was Gokul Indra, who helped AIADMK wrest Chennai Central for the first time in its electoral history and make former telecom minister Dayanidhi Maran bite the dust. Gokul Indra and SS Krishnamurthy, SP Velmani were rewarded with ministerial berths.

This cabinet reshuffle is the tenth since Jayalalithaa assumed office in May 2011 after winning a landslide, relegating the DMK to third place behind Captain Vijayakanth’s DMDK.