Sasikala first held closed-door meeting with party legislators at Golden Bay resort and handpicked Edappadi K Palaniswami to lead the party's government.
The Supreme Court order on Tuesday upholding the trial court's conviction of AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala — and banning her from holding public office for 10 years — sent both the Sasikala and Pannerselvam camps into tizzy in the state's capital here.
Sasikala first held closed-door meeting with party legislators at Golden Bay resort and handpicked Edappadi K Palaniswami to lead the party's government. Palaniswami, who was elected as the party's legislature leader, met Governor Vidyasagar Rao on Tuesday evening staking claim to form the government. However, the Panneerselvam camp refused to budge and Rajya Sabha MP V Maiterayan rushed to meet the Governor to claim the election of Palaniswami as "illegal" as the legislators continued to be held captive by Sasikala at the resort.
A large posse of police, who were deployed at Koovathur where the resort is located, surrounded the resort after the SC delivered its verdict. With situation remaining tense, Kancheepuram Collector had imposed prohibitory orders under Section 144 at Koovathur.
Speaking to reporters, Rajya Sabha MP A Navaneethakrishnan said that legal experts are being consulted to file a review petition against the Supreme Court verdict. However, he refused to answer questions on when Sasikala would surrender in the Bengaluru court. He also said that the legislators would continue to stay in the resort till the formation of the government headed by Palaniswami.
After the verdict, Paneerselvam spoke to his supporters at his home in Greenways Road, where he appealed to the legislators to bury the hatchet, stay united for the welfare of the party and continue the good governance of Amma. On Tuesday morning, two more MLAs joined the Panneerselvam camp taking his total supporters to 10.
Earlier, Sasikala, who was staying at the resort with her MLAs since Monday, sacked 20 leaders including Panneerselvam and AIADMK Minister K Pandiarajan moments after the duo left for the Koovathur resort to meet the allegedly 'kidnapped' legislators. But ex-Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Pandian, an OPS supporter, said that Sasikala had no right to sack them as she had already been sacked by the party's presidium chairman E Madhusudhanan. Pandiarajan also said that there are at least 20 legislators who would join them very soon.
Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar welcomed the verdict. "Verdict was long pending. It is most welcome. Now it is quite clear that those who are behind corruption have been taken to task. I have always been saying Sasikala could never be accepted primarily because of this case," she said.
In an interesting twist on Tuesday night, caretaker Chief Minister O Panneerselvam went with Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar to pay homage to her aunt Jayalalithaa's memorial at Marina. After paying homage, Deepa announced her entry into politics. "My political journey begins today," she told reporters. "We will work for the bright future of AIADMK as a united front."
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