A day after a special court in Bangalore unseated AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa as Tamil Nadu chief minister by sentencing her to four years imprisonment in a disproportionate assets case, party MLAs yesterday elected O Panneerselvam as her successor, as she wished.
Jayalalithaa’s erstwhile cabinet colleagues - Panneerselvam, Natham R Vishwanathan, R Vaithilingam and Edappadi K Palaniswami - met her at the Parappana Agrahara jail in Bangalore in the morning to apprise her of the developments that followed her imprisonment. She intimated them that her choice of successor is none other than her trusted loyalist Panneerselvam.
She handed over a list of names of MLAs to Panneerselvam who would be sworn in as cabinet ministers under his leadership.
On Sunday afternoon, the AIADMK MLAs met at the party headquarters and formally elected Panneerselvam as their leader. Natham R Vishwanathan proposed Panneerselvam’s name and over 150 MLAs elected him as party’s legislature party leader.
Panneerselvam would meet Governor K Rosaiah at the Raj Bhavan at 6pm. According to the constitutional requirement, the party has to first submit its list of MLAs. It is followed by the submission of the name of the chief minister-elect to the Governor, and his choice of cabinet colleagues.