The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam appealed to all AIADMK MLAs and Ministers to unite to form a stable government.
Addressing party workers after the Supreme Court upheld the conviction of VK Sasikala, General Secretary of the AIADMK, in the disproportionate assests case, he said the developments of the last one week should not be allowed to break AIADMK's unity.
The party had faced a temporary challenge and that should be put behind, he said referring to Sasikala vying for the chief minister’s post which resulted in a split in the ruling party as the supporters separated into two groups. The present government will continue, he said and urged all legislators to come together.
Anxious supporters started gathering outside the chief minister’s official residence since this morning awaiting news of the Apex Court’s decision on the case referred to as the disproportionate assets case. Police was out in force regulating traffic, putting up barricades and controlling the crowds.
All eyes were glued to the large screen television set up under a shamiana outside the Chief Minister’s house. At about 10.40 am news of Sasikala and two of her relatives being convicted by a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court broke, the crowd went ecstatic, fire crackers were burst, slogans praising OPS, as Panneerselvam is called, were screamed.
The former chief minister Late J Jayalalithaa is the first accused in the case but the appeal against her has abated following her demise on December 5, 2016.
The joy among the AIADMK supporters contrasted sharply with the despondency that descended on them when the original judgement was pronounced by the Special Court in Bangalore. On September 27, 2014, the Court found Jayalalithaa, then the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, along with Sasikala, and two of Sasikala’s relatives –VN Sudhagaran and J Ilavarasi -- guilty of amassing wealth estimated at ₹ 66 crore during her previous tenure as Chief Minister between 1991 and 1996.
The entire Tamil Nadu Cabinet, MLAs and party supporters went into mourning. Violence broke out across the State and Chennai came to halt. When OPS was sworn in as chief minister along with a new cabinet after Jayalalithaa stepped down, they made a public display of grief as they sobbed and bawled during the swearing-in ceremony.
Today as OPS’s political rival, Sasikala is disqualified from holding public office, the chief minister is still not out of the woods.
He needs the support of the MLAs, about 90 of them, who are in Sasikala’s camp. OPS has the support of about 10 MLAs from the AIADMK’s stable of 134 legislators. Some are undecided. The total strength of the Tamil Nadu Assembly is 234.
Meanwhile, Sasikala who had been elected the Leader of the Legislature Party on February 5 marking her bid for chief minister post has named Edappadi K Palanisamy as the chief minister candidate in her stead.
OPS who resigned after Sasikala was elected leader, but has tried to withdraw his resignation claiming that he was forced to resign, is the caretaker chief minister for now. The final word will now have to come from the office of the Governor, Vidyasagar Rao.