Chennai - the capital city of Tamil Nadu got its youngest and the third woman mayor on Friday. R Priya of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is also the first-ever Dalit mayor of the state capital.
After Tara Cherian and Kamakshi Jayaraman, she is the third woman to hold this post.
On Thursday, the DMK party nominated Priya as its Mayor candidate for the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) as it enjoys a majority. A mayor was sworn into the GCC for the first time after a hiatus of 11 years. With this, the GCC got its youngest and first-ever Dalit woman mayor.
The oath of office was administered by GCC commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi, reported news agency ANI. Priya was elected as a councillor of ward 74 Mangalapuram in the recently-concluded civic body polls.
Here's all you need to know about 28-year-old R Priya:
The granddaughter of former DMK MLA Chengai Sivam, Priya hails from a family with a strong political background.
Priya is the daughter of ‘Perambur’ R Rajan, a ward-level DMK functionary in Thiru Vi Ka Nagar, who has been in the party for over 30 years.
Born and brought up in Chennai, Priya completed her MCom in Sri Kanyaka Parameswari Arts College for Women.
She shall be taking over as councillor of ward 74, Mangalapuram, also making her the first mayor from North Chennai after MK Stalin led DMK registered a landslide victory in the recently concluded Tamil Nadu urban local body elections.
DMK recently swept the civic polls in Tamil Nadu and won 952 wards in corporations, 2,360 in municipalities and 4,389 in town panchayats. Surprisingly, this includes local bodies in home turfs of AIADMK leaders, including former Chief Ministers K Palaniswami (Edappadi, Salem district) and O Panneerselvam (Periyakulam, Theni district).
