A meeting of MLAs of the AIADMK held at Apollo Hospital in Chennai endorsed the name of O Panneerselvam as the man who will take reins of the government, if the requirement arises.
Sources told The News Minute that MLAs were made to sign a paper, pledging their support to O Panneerselvam.
Ever since Apollo Hospital announced that Jayalalithaa had suffered a cardiac arrest, the top leadership of the AIADMK have been in a huddle over the future course of the party.
Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalithaa is very critical and is admitted in Apollo Hospital in Chennai. Her situation worsened on Sunday when she suffered a cardiac arrest.
O Panneerselvam’s selection is not entirely expected as the man once known to be close to Jayalalithaa and viewed as second-in-command had recently lost some of his clout. He is however known to be close to Jayalalithaa’s confidante Sasikala. He was made the Chief Minister in 2001 for a few months and later for a few months in 2014, following adverse court decisions on Jayalalithaa.
A reluctant Chief Minister, OPS even refused to occupy the CM’s seat in 2001, and would instead only sit on a chair next to the CM’s seat. In 2014, he sobbed as he took oath as Chief minister for the second time.
Made the opposition leader after the AIADMK lost in 2006, he found himself in the limelight after he publicly prostrated before Jayalalithaa ahead of presenting the annual budget, as Finance Minister.
O Panneerselvam, born into the Maravar caste, a sub-caste of Thevars, had humble beginnings. In the late 1980s, he started PV canteen, a small shop tea shop in his native Then district. OPS was an MGR loyalist in the 80s, and later worked closely with Janaki, MGR’s widow who had taken charge of the party.
His election strategies helped Sasikala’s nephew TTV Dhinakaran win an assembly seat in 1999, thereby bringing O Paneerselvam closer to Jayalalithaa. He soon grew in rank, and has been a cabinet minister in every government headed by Jayalalithaa since 2001.
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