Chennai: The meeting between Tamil Nadu’s interim Chief Minister O Paneerselvam and Governor C Vidyasagar Rao has started with ten more AIADMK leaders, opposed to V Sasikala participating in it, reports said.
The meeting is being held at the Raj Bhavan shortly after the Governor’s arrival from Goa.
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After this meeting, the Governor will meet Sasikala at around 7 pm to listen to her case that she is supposed to present to stake claim for the Chief Ministership.
Paneerselvam has waged a revolt against Sasikala, the aspiring Chief Minister, who recently became the party’s General Secretary and leader of the Legislature Party.
Paneerselvam, once the closest aide of the late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, has gone on record saying that he had to resign as Chief Minister in favour of Sasikala under duress.
Backed by few veteran party leaders like PH Pandian and V Maitreyan, Paneerselvam has also said that the cause of Jayalalithaa’s death is not beyond suspicion and should be investigated into.
Sasikala, who had long been a backroom operator as a close aide of Jayalalithaa from Poes Garden made a rapid ascent to the party hierarchy after the leader’s death in December last year.
Though Sasikala claims to have the support of 130 of the party’s 134 MLAs, Paneerselvam claims that there are many who will support him if a trust vote takes place.
The state politics saw a dramatic turn of events on Tuesday night when Pannerselvam staging a major revolt against VK Sasikala, elected the legislature party leader on Sunday.
Pannerselvam alleged that he was forced to resign from the chief minister’s post by the Sasikala camp.
On Wednesday, Sasikala paraded the party’s 130-odd MLAs in a show of strength at the party headquarters and then herded the into three buses and sent them to an undisclosed location to thwart any attempts at poaching.
Meanwhile, media reports said Panneerselvam is expected to issue an order to convert ‘Amma’ J Jayalalithaa’s iconic Poes Garden residence into a memorial.
The order, if passed, will be very significant since Sasikala resides at the Poes Garden house and the decision may force her to vacate it.
IBNS
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