With All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham (AIADMK) general secretary V.K. Sasikala standing disqualified to take over as the next Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, the party leadership has appointed Edapadi K. Palanisamy as the new legislative leader. Caretaker Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam has been expelled from the party.
As an aftermath to this development, Palanisamy can meet the TN Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao and stake the claim to form the government in the state.
The political stalemate in the state, however, looks far from getting resolved as this would leave chances of a toss up between Palanisamy and Panneerselvam, if the governor asks for proof of majority in the assembly.
Earlier in the day, Sasikala suffered a major jolt after the Supreme Court upheld the trial court's judgement convicting her in the 19-year-old disproportionate assets case against her.
Late J. Jayalalithaa, along with Sasikala and two others, were involved in the DA case that goes back two decades.
The Bengaluru trial court had convicted Jayalalithaa on September 27, 2014 and ordered her four years of imprisonment along with Rs. 100 crore fine, with Rs. 10 crore fine on the other three. The conviction disqualified her as an MLA requiring her to step down as the chief minister. She, however, returned as the chief minister after Karnataka High Court on May 11, 2015 acquitted her and the others in the case.