Chennai/New Delhi: With the Supreme Court on Tuesday restoring the conviction of VK Sasikala in a 20-year-old corruption case, pressure has been mounting on Governor Vidyasagar Rao to call a floor test in the Assembly to decide who gets the Chief Minister’s chair — caretaker CM O Panneerselvam or Sasikala loyalist Edappadi Palaniswami.
On Tuesday night, Sasikala left a luxury resort where party MLAs have been put up and headed back to her Poes Garden residence, which she shared with Jayalalithaa for 30 years. She was likely to surrender in Bengaluru on Wednesday morning. Her sister-in-law Illavarsi and nephew Sudhakaran have also been convicted by the apex court.
Losing no time, her CM pick Palaniswami met the Governor at Raj Bhavan in the evening. During the 10-minute meet, he staked his claim to the CM’s chair. Soon after, AIADMK veteran V Maitreyan, who was among the first to back Panneerselvam, met the Governor.
In a related development, Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar made her entry into politics and extended support to Panneerselvam at Amma Memorial, from where the caretaker CM had launched his rebellion exactly a week ago. She was later welcomed into Panneerselvam’s residence with a traditional aarti.
The Sasikala faction has claimed the support of 119 MLAs, but the Panneerselvam camp says many of them “have been held captive” at a luxury resort.
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