Tamil Nadu Governor C Vidyasagar Rao on Monday accepted the resignation of O Panneerselvam as Chief Minister and asked him and the Council of Ministers to function till alternate arrangements are made. Panneerselvam has cited personal reasons for his decision to quit.
Though hectic preparations are going on at Madras University Centenary Auditorium for the swearing-in of VK Sasikala as Chief Minister, there is no information about the date and time of the event either from the Government or Raj Bhavan.
The party remained tight-lipped on media reports about Sasikala taking over as Chief Minister on Tuesday.
Officials, however, indicated that the Governor was unlikely to return to Tamil Nadu before February 9. That means, the swearing-in ceremony will have to wait till then.
Meanwhile, the Supreme Court on Monday indicated that the judgement in the disproportionate assets case against Sasikala and two others could be pronounced after a week.
The apex bench of Justices PC Ghose and Amitava Roy has reserved judgment on the appeals filed by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) challenging the acquittal of late J Jayalalithaa, the former TN Chief Minister in a disproportionate assets case. Sasikala and two others were also accused in the case and were acquitted by the same order passed by the HC in May 2015.
On Monday, senior advocate Dushyant Dave approached the Bench headed by Justice PC Ghose to know the fate of the judgement. The judge asked Dave to wait for a week giving indications that the decision was being given final touches.
For the moment, Sasikala has an order of acquittal in her favour but considering the fact that the trial court had convicted all the accused, it is open for the Supreme Court to alter the HC’s finding. This could spell doom for Sasikala’s political career.
The possibility of Sasikala taking over the reign of Tamil Nadu has seen senior leaders of both the BJP and Congress reacting differently.
Tamilisaai Sounderarajan, president of the Tamil Nadu BJP, lambasted the AIADMK leadership for the removal of Panneerselvam and appointment of Sasikala as Chief Minister. “Appointment of Sasikala as Chief Minister is not an internal issue of the AIADMK alone. It concerns the whole of Tamil Nadu. What was the need of removing Panneerselvam when he was elected in a democratic manner by the party MlAsIJ” asked Sounderarajan.
But senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said there was nothing wrong in Sasikala’s appointment. “The same MlAs had elected Panneerselvam as the Chief Minister on December 5, 2016. If they feel that Sasikala should be the Chief Minister, nobody can question it,” said Swamy, once a bête noire of Jayalalithaa and Sasikala.
“She is more qualified than leaders of other political parties in Tamil Nadu to become the Chief Minister. let’s see how she performs as Chief Minister before making any assessment,” Swamy told The Pioneer.
While EVKS Elangovan, senior Congress leader, described Sasikala’s election as the black day of democracy, S Thirunavakkarrassar, president of the TNCC , said the AIADMK MlAs are free to elect the person of their choice as Chief Minister. “The Congress has no comments over this development,” said the TNCC chief, who was with the AIADMK for decades before switching over to the BJP and then to the Congress. Both Thirunavakkarrassar and Sasikala belong to the powerful Thevar community.
P Chidambaram, another Congress leader from the State tweeted that though the AIADMK MlAs were free to elect the leader of their choice as Chief Minister, the people of the State has the right to ask whether the leader deserves to be the Chief Minister.