29-Year-Old R Priya of DMK To Be Youngest & First Dalit Mayor of Chennai

The 29-year-old will be the 3rd woman to hold the post of Chennai mayor after Tara Cherian and Kamakshi Jayaraman.

R Priya of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is all set to become the youngest and first Dalit woman Mayor of Chennai, the party that swept the recently concluded local body polls in Tamil Nadu and won a majority of seats in the Chennai Corporation, announced on Thursday, 3 March.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter/@Shalu_Offl)

R Priya of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is all set to become the youngest as well as the first Dalit woman mayor of Chennai.

The DMK that swept the recently concluded local body polls in Tamil Nadu and won a majority of seats in the Chennai Corporation, announced on Thursday, 3 March.

The 29 year-old will be the third woman to hold the post of Chennai mayor after Tara Cherian and Kamakshi Jayaraman. She will be formally elected as the city's mayor soon.

Ahead of the civic polls, the state government had reserved the post for a Scheduled Caste woman. Priya, having won as councillor from ward 74, Mangalapuram that is located in North Chennai, will be the first mayor from the North Chennai region.

Several areas in North Chennai, including her neighbourhood Mangalapuram, still lack basic amenities, including drinking water, electricity connection, and sanitation facilities.

Speaking to The News Minute, Priya said she wanted to solve these issues and added that she was keen to serve her neighbourhood after the DMK came to power in the Assembly elections last year.

A postgraduate in Commerce from Sri Kanyaka Parameswari Arts and Science College for Women in George Town in Chennai, Priya hails from a family that has an active involvement in politics.

She is the granddaughter of former DMK MLA Chengai Sivan. Her father R Rajan is DMK's area co- secretary. Besides, she has been a DMK party cadre from the age of 18, reported The News Minute.

(With inputs from The News Minute.)