Jayalalithaa Set to Return as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Paneerselvam handed his resignation to Governor K Rosaiah early this morning, soon after AIADMK legislators met to elect J Jayalalithaa as the leader of the legislature party.

Ms Jayalalithaa is expected to take oath tomorrow as chief minister of Tamil Nadu, eight months after she had to resign when a Bangalore court convicted her in a corruption case.

144 of the AIADMK’s 150 lawmakers met very early on Friday at the party headquarters in Chennai to unanimously elect Ms Jayalalithaa as their leader. Five rebel MLAs from actor-politician Vijayakanth’s DMDK were also present.

Ms Jayalalithaa, 67, was not at the meeting, where Mr Panneerselvam proposed the motion to elect her and it was adopted unanimously. He then drove over to Ms Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence, before meeting the Governor, all before 8 am on Friday.

After the MLAs met, a beaming Cooperative Minister Sellur K Raju said, “This is the happiest day of our life.”

Ms Jayalalithaa, who is known as “Amma” or “mother,” will this afternoon make her first appearance in public after her acquittal by the Karmataka High Court earlier this month. She will garland the statues of AIADMK leaders, including founder MG Ramachandran, and is expected to stake claim to form a new government later in the day.

In September last year, Ms Jayalalithaa was convicted in a corruption case and forced to step down in the midst of her third term as chief minister. Sent to jail, she picked O Panneerselvam, a man who has for years demonstrated unwavering loyalty, to take her place.

Mr Panneerselvam had wept through the swearing-in ceremony and made it clear through the last eight months that he saw himself as only a stand-in for his party chief.

On May 11, Ms Jayalalithaa was found not guilty of illicitly amassing wealth adding up to nearly Rs. 50 crore by the Karnataka High Court. She must win a state assembly seat within six months of taking over as Chief Minister.

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Source:Ndtv

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