OPS Vs. Sasikala round two: Palanisamy stakes his claim

Palanisamy, the new leader of the AIADMK party and latest claimant to Tamil Nadu’s chief minister’s post, reached the Raj Bhavan to formally stake his claim before the Governor. Palanisamy was elected as the leader of the AIADMK in Golden Bay Resorts by the AIADMK MLAs assembled there. However, whether that election would stand, or even followed the party’s constitution, is not yet verified.

He is expected to hand over to the Governor a letter affirming the support of a majority of the AIADMK MLAs, to back his claim to be appointed the Chief Minister. Members in the Panneerselvam camp, all of whom have been expelled from the AIADMK as well, denied that Palanisamy had any right to be the party chief. 

As the final straw to O Panneerselvam’s AIADMK aspirations, Sasikala Natarajan, before surrendering herself before trial court, expelled the former from the party and appointed Edappadi K. Palanisamy as the chief of the AIADMK. 

Palanisamy is a veteran politician of AIADMK and the present Minister of Highways and Minor Ports of Tamil Nadu government. He is a loyalist of the party and has been elected four times to the state assembly in 1989, 1991, 2011, and 2016 from Edapadi constituency. 

Palanisamy reportedly shared a good rapport with Jayalalithaa in the past and now he will be heading the Sasikala camp. According to reports, he expects the Governor to call for a floor test immediately. 

• Sasikala