After Jayalalithaa Edict, Panneerselvam Becomes Tamil Nadu CM

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK elected Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam as chief minister to succeed the jailed J. Jayalalithaa, who Saturday began serving a four-year prison sentence for corruption.

Panneerselvam, 63, who once ran a tea stall which is still with his family, once become the chief minister in similar circumstances in 2001 and held the post until Jayalalithaa bounced back.

The unanimous decision on Panneerselvam came hours after he and a few AIADMK leaders met Jayalalithaa at the Bangalore Central Jail and she told them to elect a new leader quickly to "assuage the hurt feelings" of the thousands of party cadres in Tamil Nadu following her jailing.

As AIADMK supporters massed in hundreds at the party headquarters in the heart of Chennai raised the V sign, AIADMK sources said Panneerselvam would call on Governor K. Rosiah to stake claim for the chief minister's post.

The development came amid lingering tensions in Tamil Nadu, where a 45-year-old committed suicide by hanging from a tree near Kancheepuram town while a 17-year-old girl student was battling for life in Madurai after setting herself ablaze to protest the jailing of Jayalalithaa.

In Bangalore, AIADMK men and women members gathered in large numbers and refused to budge without meeting their jailed leader. Police refused them permission to proceed to the jail where orders have been imposed banning the assembly of five or more people.

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