Relief for Sasikala: SC declines urgent hearing on plea seeking to restrain her from taking oath as TN CM
Amid the power struggle within the AIADMK, both Sasikala and Panneerselvam had met the Governor on Thursday.
The Supreme Court on Friday declined urgent hearing on a plea seeking to restrain VK Sasikala Natarajan from becoming chief minister of Tamil Nadu till its decision in the disproportionate assets case.
Petitioner Senthil Kumar had knocked on the doors of the apex court seeking a stay on the swearing-in of Sasikala.
The plea cites that riots and 'deplorable acts' were carried across Tamil Nadu, when the Supreme Court took action against Jayalalithaa and Sasikala for amassing wealth disproportionate to their income in 1997, and further warned that party workers of AIADMK may once against protest and disturb the normal life of Tamil Nadu when the top court announces its ruling in the matter in the coming week.
Meanwhile, Sasikala had staked claim to form the government at a meeting with Governor C Vidyasagar Rao, who has not yet given any indication as to what course of action he will take.
Though there was no immediate word on what the Governor proposed to do, some reports suggested he wanted to obtain further legal opinion before taking any action.
On Thursday, Sasikala's meeting with the Governor lasted about 40 minutes. AIADMK claimed 131 MLAs had attended a meeting called by her in the wake of a rebellion by Panneerselvam.
O Panneerselvam also met the Governor on the same day. Panneerselvam has been claiming he has the support of a majority of party MLAs and that he would prove his strength on the floor of the house, but not disclosed the number of AIADMK legislators supporting him.
Before O Panneerselvam revolted against Sasikala claiming he was forced to resign, he had submitted his resignation to the Governor on February 6 and was asked to continue in office till alternative arrangements were made.
Pannerselvam has been maintaining that he was prepared to reconsider his resignation if people and the party cadres so desired. Though Sasikala appears to have the backing of an overwhelming majority of MLAs, public support for Panneerselvam was reported to have grown following his rebellion.