Jaya flays MK for changing New Year day

CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday contested the oft-repeated argument of DMK president M Karunanidhi that a large congregation of Tamil scholars had, in 1935, declared that Tamil New Year’s day starts with the month of Thai when  Pongal is celebrated, and charged him with having officially changed the date of new year celebrations to coincide with the harvest festival—as late as in 2008—only for the sake of publicity.Speaking at a function to mark Tamil New Year’s day, the first day of the month of Chithirai, the CM took on the DMK chief for imposing a change, without any valid reason, in the age-old custom of ushering in the new year in Chithirai.