As soon as she returned to Chennai from her hilly retreat in Kodanad in the Nilgiris, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa got right back to work. First on her agenda - she dropped one of her A-listers Revenue Minister KA Sengottaiyan from the council of ministers. Thoppu ND Venkatachalam, representing the Perundurai constituency, will replace Sengottaiyan. The move came as quite a shock to those in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam as he was among her trusted lieutenants. Sengottaiyan has been elected five times to the assembly. The sacking came after Jayalalithaa cautioned party MLAs and MPs that she would not tolerate any ‘wrongdoings’ for the sake of continuing in power.
DMDK lawmaker arrested
Even as Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) leader Vijayakanth is planning his state-wide tour, one of his MLAs has been arrested by the Tiruvallur district Anti-Land Grab Cell on the charges of blocking the pathway leading towards the Irula tribal settlement. The tribal association apparently complained about DMDK MLA Arun Subramaniam. He is the first MLA from the DMDK to be arrested on the charges of land-grabbing.
Diana Penty to act in ‘Biriyani’
Actress Diana Penty - from the Hindi film Cocktail - has been signed on by director Venkat Prabhu for his movie Biriyani. The film, which is supposed to be a thriller, has two heroines. So far, Richa Gandhopadhyay has been finalised as one of them. The lead actor in the movie is Karthi.
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