Embarrassed AIADMK unveils new statue of Jayalalithaa as old one failed to resemble her

CHENNAI: There was a lot of excitement among AIADMK members and supporters when late J Jayalalithaa's statue was unveiled at party headquarters in Chennai in February this year. However, the party came under severe criticism shortly after the unveiling with people claiming that the statue barely looked like the iconic leader.

Embarrassed, the party announced that it will be installing a new statue to replace the old one. 

On Wednesday, the new statue was unveiled by Chief Minister K Palaniswami and his deputy O Panneerselvam among cheers from party supporters.

Tamil Nadu: CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami and Deputy CM O. Panneerselvam unveil a new statue of former CM Jayalalithaa at All India Anna Dravida Munnetra (AIADMK) headquarters in Royapettah, Chennai. pic.twitter.com/D7PMYaXLy0 — ANI (@ANI) November 14, 2018

The old life-size statue of the late leader in February was unveiled at a grand event on the occasion of her 70th birth anniversary. The bronze statue with a rose garland was placed next to that of AIADMK leader MG Ramachandran at the party office. 

Social media was filled with outrage after pictures of the statue were shared, prompting the party to re-install the sculpture after the necessary changes are made.

I congratulate the dedicated sculptor and the ADMK visionaries who commissioned this wonderful two-in-one statue- Place a hat and darkglasses, It will resemble MGR. Remove them, It can be called Amma.#JayalalithaBirthday #Amma70thBirthday #AdmkFails #JayalalithaaStatue pic.twitter.com/LgmxIDlX6i — Kasturi Shankar (@KasthuriShankar) February 24, 2018

Is this a conspiracy to project chinamma's face onto amma... starting with her hairstyle, naamam, blouses, now statue...completing sasikala's metamorphosis into jayalalitha ! https://t.co/YXnaGtDESS — Kasturi Shankar (@KasthuriShankar) February 24, 2018

Yes sir #Jayalalithaa statue looks more like Malayalam Cinema’s best known screen #Amma -#KaviyoorPonamma! https://t.co/AayBlk2r6F — Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) February 24, 2018

As per reports, the statue was made in Andhra Pradesh.