— Photos: R. Ragu

A NEW BEGINNING: AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa signing the register after taking the oath as MLA in the presence of pro tem Speaker D. Sudarsanam at the Secretariat in Chennai on Thursday. (Right) DMDK founder Vijayakanth taking the oath as MLA.

CHENNAI: Former Chief Minister and general secretary of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Jayalalithaa, and Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam president Vijayakant, were sworn in as members of the Tamil Nadu Assembly here on Thursday.

Pro-tem Speaker D. Sudarasanam administered the oath to both of them at his chamber.

While Ms. Jayalalithaa took oath in the name of god, Mr. Vijayakant took it according to his conscience.

Later they signed the Assembly register.

The two leaders did not participate the Assembly proceedings on Wednesday.

On arriving at the chamber, Ms. Jayalalithaa congratulated Mr. Sudarasanam on his appointment as the pro-tem Speaker of the Assembly.

After signing the register, she thanked him for administering the oath.

Opposition leader O. Paneerselvam, former AIADMK Ministers and party men, including sitting AIADMK MLAs, greeted Ms. Jayalalithaa when she arrived at the Speaker's chamber.

Security personnel had a tough time in controlling the party men, who in their eagerness to have a glimpse of their leader tried to break the cordon put up for regulating the crowd.

However AIADMK workers formed a human cordon to escort their leader to the chamber as well as to her car after the ceremony.

Party men, who were lined up on both sides of the road leading to the Secretariat, with party flags, raised slogans in praise of Ms. Jayalalithaa when her convoy zipped past them.

She in turn greeted them by showing the victory sign. Fifteen minutes after her departure, Mr. Vijayakant arrived along with his followers and chairman of the party presidium Panruti S. Ramachandran.

After administering the oath to him, Mr. Sudarasanam explained Assembly procedures to the DMDK leader. The pro-tem Speaker informed him that as a party leader he would be allotted a seat in the front row of the Assembly along with other Opposition leaders. When Mr. Vijayakant wanted to know whether it was mandatory to attend the Speaker' election, Mr. Sudarasanam said that it was customary for Opposition leaders to greet the newly elected Speaker after he took charge.

Talking to newsmen later, Mr. Vijayakant said he would participate in the Assembly proceedings regularly and raise people's issues.

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