Jaya says did not mean to insult Stalin over seating

CHENNAI: Responding to the controversy kicked up by opposition DMK at her swearing-in ceremony, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday said that she

CHENNAI: Responding to the controversy kicked up by opposition DMK at her swearing-in ceremony, Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa on Tuesday said that she would have instructed officials to disregard protocol and offer senior DMK leader MK Stalin a front-row seat if she had prior intimation that he would be attending the ceremony.

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Stalin was seated in the 16th row in the ceremony on Monday, which the DMK said was a “deliberate insult”.

In a press statement issued here, Jayalalithaa said there was no intent on either her part or her government’s part to insult anyone and that officials had followed the protocol in allocating seats to MLAs. She thanked Stalin for attending the ceremony and said that she looked forward to working with his party in the betterment of the state.

“If the seating plan caused him any disc o m f i - ture, I would like to assure him there was no intent to show disrespect to him or his par ty. Had the officers brought to my notice that Thiru MK Stalin would be attending the event, I would have instructed the officers in charge of the arrangements to provide him a seat in the first row, relaxing the norms in the protocol manual.”