A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court against Tamil Nadu’s chief minister designate VK Sasikala, which opposes her appointment to the office, ANI reported. This comes a day after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam announced that she would take over as chief minister after O Panneerselvam resigned. Panneerselvam had been sworn in after former chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s death on December 6, 2016. He held the post for less than two months.
Sasikala was set to be sworn in on Tuesday, though the plea in the Supreme Court has moved to restrain her appointment to the post till after a ruling in her disproportionate assets case. However, state Governor Vidyasagar Rao is reportedly examining whether she can be sworn in before a ruling in the case.
Earlier in the day, expelled AIADMK legislator Sasikala Pushpa wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao on Monday, opposing VK Sasikala’s appointment as the state’s chief minister, PTI reported. The rebel MP alleged that VK Sasikala (pictured above) had a “criminal background” and that cases against her were pending.
Pushpa said the party general secretary had not “done any basic work” to be elected leader of the AIADMK’s Legislature party. She claimed former Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa had not proposed VK Sasikala’s name for the post when she was hospitalised. “When she [VK Sasikala] will be the chief minister of Tamil Nadu, there will be law and order problems [in the state],” Pushpa alleged.
On Saturday, Pushpa had submitted a “letter of dissent” to the poll panel on the “undemocratic nomination” of VK Sasikala as the AIADMK chief. The former MP had also accused VK Sasikala of being “autocratic”. The Election Commission on Saturday had sought a response from AIADMK to Pushpa’s complaint.
Pushpa is the only AIADMK MP who has not been invited to Chennai for Sasikala’s inauguration ceremony, PTI reported.
A petition started on Sunday evening on change.org has garnered around more than 41,000 signature against VK Sasikala becoming Tamil Nadu CM. It will be submitted to the Tamil Nadu governor, President Pranab Mukherjee and the chief election commissioner soon.
“Sasikala, with many old money-laundering cases, should not be allowed to lead an Indian state,” the petition read. It also said that either O Panneerselvam should continue in the post or the government should be dissolved and elections should be re-held.
Moreover, former Union minister and senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Monday said people reserved the right to question the appointment of VK Sasikala as Tamil Nadu’s chief minister. “It is the right of AIADMK MLAs to elect their leader. It is the right of the people to ask if the leader deserves to be CM,” he said in a tweet, adding that the people of Tamil Nadu and AIADMK were moving in “opposite directions”.
VK Sasikala was elected the leader of the legislature party by the MLAs on Saturday paving the way for her appointment as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. O Panneerselvam had tendered his resignation on Sunday to Tamil Nadu governor citing “personal reasons”.
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