The political stalemate in Tamil Nadu which brought the State administration to a standstill since February 5 ended on Thursday with Edappadi Palaniswamy (EPS), a senior AIADMK leader, being sworn in as Chief Minister by Governor Vidyasagar Rao. Palaniswamy has been asked to prove his majority in the Assembly by seeking a vote of trust on February 18.
In addition to Palaniswamy, a 30-member Council of Ministers too was administered the oath of office and secrecy by the Governor.
Early in the day, Palaniswamy was summoned to the Raj Bhavan and the Governor handed him the letter appointing him as the Chief Minister of the State.
While Palaniswamy retained all Ministers of the outgoing O Panneerselvam (OPS) Ministry except for K Pandiarajan, he has inducted veteran KA Sengottaiyan, the AIADMK presidium chairman in the Ministry. Palaniswamy has kept for himself all major portfolios like Home, Finance, Public Works, Irrigation and Highways. OPS had kept all Ministers of the Jayalalithaa Government in his Cabinet.
Sengottaiyan has been allocated the departments of School Education, Sports and Youth Welfare, while there is no change in the portfolios held by other Ministers.
After the swearing-in, all Ministers led by the Chief Minister visited late Jayalalithaa’s Memorial at Marina Beach and offered floral tributes to the former Chief Minister.
“I wish to say that Amma’s (Jayalalithaa) Government will continue by me proving majority in the Assembly,” he told reporters in his first media interaction after taking over as Chief Minister of the State.
The session of the legislative Assembly has been convened for Saturday for Palaniswamy to seek the vote trust.
The Palaniswamy camp claims that they have the support of 124 members (excluding the Speaker) in the House which has a total strength of 234. There are ten members in the Panneerselvam camp while the DMK alliance has 98 members (89 for the DMK, eight for the Congress and a lone Muslim league member).
Former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who had claimed that he would be able to prove his majority once the MlAs held in captivity by the Sasikala camp were released, is reportedly losing support as the MlAs who had crossed over to him are having second thoughts about their future.
Meanwhile, the Panneerselvam camp on Thursday moved the Election Commission challenging the election of Sasikala as general secretary of the party, saying she was elevated in violation of the norms.
A 12-member delegation of the faction led by Rajya Sabha MP V Maitreyan met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and other top officials, and submitted a memorandum demanding that it decline approval to her elevation to the top party post.
In its 42-page petition, the delegation claimed Sasikala’s election was violative of the party constitution as she was chosen by the general council of the party and not the primary members.
It said the general council was empowered to frame policies and programmes, and not elect someone as general secretary.
Panneerselvam, has claimed she lacked necessary powers to sack him.
He also said in Chennai that his fight against Sasikala and her family will continue till the time “J Jayalalithaa’s regime is restored”.
“let us all together stop the party and Government from going into the hands of a single family again. let us form a people’s Government again in sync with the aspirations of people and till then this struggle will continue,” he said.
However, former Minister K Pandiarajan told reporters that the unity of the party was the need of the hour and he would do whatever he could for a patch-up between the two factions. It is widely believed in the AIADMK circles that Pandiarajan is getting ready to get back to the Sasikala camp.
R Nataraj MlA, who remained neutral throughout the impasse, went on record by calling for unity in the party as a mark of respect to late Jayalalithaa. A section of the AIADMK MPs who declared their support to Panneerselvam is of the view that a split in the party at this hour of crisis is suicidal as well as detrimental. The AIADMK leadership (read Sasikala) has taken no disciplinary action against the MPs who joined the Panneerselvam camp.