Minister displays Jayalalithaa's photo on coffin of Siachen martyr

The funeral of Siachen martyr G Ganesan was held in Madurai on Tuesday morning. A report in NDTV states that state minister Sellur Raju, came with district collector Veera Raghava Rao to pay his last respects. 

Sellur Raju had apparently come to hand over a cheque of  Rs 10 lakh to Sepoy Ganesan's family on behalf of the government. But what he did next has created a controversy.

The report adds that the minister took a picture of Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa and held it against the coffin. He then apparently told Ganesan's weeping mother to look at the person in the photo as she was the who had sent the money. The mother expressed her gratitude by folding her hands it's reported. 

People who were present were apparently angry with what transpired. One of the local residents told NDTV that it was shameful and insensitive on the part of the minister. 

Last year after the floods, there was criticism when party workers put Jayalalithaa's photos on all the relief material. 

The NDTV report also says that last week, AIADMK activists had organised a mass wedding to celebrate the Tamil Nadu CM's upcoming birthday. Newly-wed couples it seems ended up wearing headbands with stickers of the Chief Minister.