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Jaya aide Panneerselvam to be Tamil Nadu CM
Had served as interim CM in 2001 for 6 months

Chennai, September 28
Tamil Nadu Finance Minister O Panneerselvam was today chosen the next Chief Minister after AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa was convicted and sent to jail for four years in a disproportionate assets case.

Panneerselvam, a former Chief Minister, was unanimously elected as Jayalalithaa’s successor at a meeting of AIADMK members in Chennai a day after Jayalalithaa’s conviction and sentencing in the Rs 66.65 crore disproportionate assets case.

Panneerselvam, 63, is a trusted loyalist of Jayalalithaa. He was elevated to the position of Chief Minister for six months in 2001 when she had to step down following her conviction in the Tamil Nadu Small Industries Corporation (TANSI) land deal case in which she was subsequently acquitted. The “soft spoken and suave leader” literally functioned as “interim Chief Minister” and duly vacated the post after Jayalalithaa was acquitted in the case.

Described as “Mr Faithful”, Panneerselvam belongs to the dominant Mudukulathor community. The ruling party MLAs will meet Governor K Rosaiah to communicate the decision to him, party sources said. The name of Panneerselvam is understood to have been communicated by Jayalalithaa in the court itself after the verdict was pronounced yesterday. She also had a long conversation with him in the court before she was lodged in the Bangalore jail. Panneerselvam, who had been camping in Bangalore since yesterday when Jayalalithaa travelled there for the verdict, returned to the city today to take up the new responsibility as per her direction.

Meanwhile, a battery of lawyers gave final touches to their legal strategy in seeking immediate relief for Jayalalithaa, who has been convicted by special judge John Michael D'Cunha and sentenced to four-year imprisonment besides being slapped a fine of Rs 100 crore in the 18-year-old disproportionate assets case. Since the sentencing is for a period more than three years, only the High Court can grant her bail.

The court also found three others — Jayalalithaa's close associate Sasikala her relatives VN Sudhakaran and Ilavarasi — guilty and sentenced them to four-year jail and a fine of Rs 10 crore each.

Under a Supreme Court judgment of last year, any MLA or MP would stand automatically disqualified if he or she is convicted and sentenced to an imprisonment of a period not less than two years. — PTI