By Friday evening, the chief minister and her party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, became the target of public ire as images of flood relief workers pasting the photos on food packets began to do the rounds.
What More Disgusting than this..? #Amma Supportes Pasting Jaya Poster to Food Packets Donated by People #ShameOnAmma pic.twitter.com/cZvGB87l0k
— Jayadeep Kotian (@Jayadeep333) December 5, 2015#Shame on #Amma brand by pastin stickers. wrong timing! SO frustrating to see the lame politics @AIADMKOfficial its high time to grow up — Balaji Murugan (@balajimuruganu) December 4, 2015The response from Twitter users, as expected, was vicious.
RT @Intrepide_ The most self obsessed, publicity hungry politician in the whole world. #Amma #StickerGovt #JayaFails #ChennaiFloods — #JayaFails (@JayaFails) December 5, 2015I used to advocate for #AIADMK when others speak bad. But now hearing about this insane activities.. Feeling terrible. Worst #Amma govt
— Gowthaman (@gowthaman88) December 5, 2015#ADMK party is busy with sticking Amma stickers on #ChennaiFloods materials nd Amma online slaves'r busy with sticker tweets Sick very sick.
— Anish (@Anish4Love) December 5, 2015
Greatest mystery is how did Amma manage to get her sticker printed during the rains? https://t.co/nmqOBTqpkc
— Evil Yindoo (@EvilYindoo) December 4, 2015By Saturday, however, other Jayalalithaa supporters attempted to control the damage by posting clarifications that the stickers were not part of any official campaign, but the work of "goons".
#Amma stickers forcibly being pasted on relief items fr flood victims by thugs & goons! #shameless #Jayalalithaa #HelpChennai #pitythevoters
— Kiran Sanal (@sanalkiran) December 5, 2015Unforgivable appeasement by AIADMK goons. Rescue vehicles are stopped to paste #AMMA s face on them. She is not giving money from her pocket — Venkataseshan (@venkatusharma) December 5, 2015A helpline was started to report cases of AIADMK workers forcing anyone to paste Jayalalithaa stickers on relief packages.
Any AIADMK guy troubling/ forcing u paste pics of CM. Contact numbers in pic. They will be dealt with #chennairains pic.twitter.com/LDeLcGgNoe — Prashanth (@itisprashanth) December 5, 2015
Rumors Tats Spreading #AMMA Ordered 2 Stick Her Photo in All Foods & Clothes. KINDLY Don't Spred. #ChennaiRainsHelp pic.twitter.com/WMdKX3IRj5
— Prasath Vj Nila ♥ (@Prasath_Nila) December 5, 2015Not everyone, however, could reach the helpline numbers given being shared online:
Bro @AIADMKOfficial - can't get thru to you guys at this number. Putting hashtag #Amma so that you tweet back. pic.twitter.com/GZUUrQhXOj
— Blogeswari (@blogeswari) December 5, 2015The official AIADMK Twitter handle, meanwhile, has not posted any clarification about who is behind the forcible sticker-pasting. Instead, the party has been aggressively promoting the #Amma hashtag, a reference to Jayalalithaa's most popular nickname, while tweeting about ongoing relief work:
#AMMA #ReliefMeasures pic.twitter.com/LfF9GVftfN — AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) December 5, 2015#AMMA #ReliefMeasures pic.twitter.com/suYDB3mgyQ — AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) December 5, 2015
Aavin Milk Outlets & Delivery Vehicle are as Prompt as any Other Day Across Greater Chennai.#AMMA #ChennaiRainsHelp pic.twitter.com/IiYypstyvA
— AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) December 5, 2015Limited-time offer: Big stories, small price. Keep independent media alive. Become a Scroll member today!
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