Goyal hails Jaya as "iron lady," latches on to her legacy

Days after his party inked a poll pact with AIADMK, senior BJP leader Piyush Goyal Sunday hailed the late Dravidian party supremo J Jayalalithaa as a champion of the weaker sections and lauded her pro-poor initiatives like the "Amma canteen."

Participating in the launch of the Prime Minister's monetary assistance plan for the farmers here, he said Jayalalithaa implemented several welfare measures like the low cost food chain Amma canteens.

Also, she introduced schemes for sale of medicines at discounted rates, gave free textbooks to students, uniforms, bags, cycles, and she was always caring for the poor and for the farmers, he said.

The Union Minister quoted Jayalalithaa's maiden speech in the Rajya Sabha (in 1984) when the late leader had said: "I have come here as a representative of the weakerer sections of our society."

She had said that she represented humble workers,farmers, poor agriculture labourers and women, Goyal recalled and added that "her heart was for ...