Jayalalithaa sacks Minister, relieves him of party post

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa on Wednesday sacked Animal Husbandry Minister TKM Chinnayya and relieved him and Health Minister C Vijayabaskar from their party posts.

A Raj Bhavan press release said, “Governor K Rosaiah accepted the recommendation of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to drop Chinnayya from the Council of Ministers.”  Suburban Tambaram-based Chinnayya rose through the AIADMK ranks and went on to become a Minister when Jayalalithaa assumed office in 2011.

A municipal councillor in Tambaram Municipality during 2006-11, he was elected to the Assembly from Tambaram and successfully served as a Minister for nearly five years though several other Cabinet colleagues of his faced the axe.

The Animal Husbandry portfolio held by Chinnayya has now been allocated to Social Welfare Minister B Valarmathi, the release said. In an AIADMK release, Jayalalithaa said Vijayabaskar has been relieved of Pudukottai District Secretary post. He will be replaced by AIADMK farmers wing secretary P K Vairamuthu, she said. She also stripped Chinnayya from his post of Kancheepuram East District Secretary.