Challenges abound for Palaniswami

Palaniswami has to keep AIADMK united, handle caste politics as well as run state reeling from debt

Edappadi K Palaniswami took over as chief minister of Tamil Nadu amid a hue and cry and won a confidence motion within two days even as rival party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) protested and one faction of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led by O Panneerselvam, former chief minister and confidant of the late J Jayalalithaa, claimed he was the real inheritor of the mantle. Palaniswami’s initial actions show that at least where welfare measures are concerned, his approach was in line with the legacies of Jayalalithaa and Panneerselvam.

This was evident even on Palaniswami’s first day