Tamil Nadu’s New Chief Minister Breaks Down While Taking Oath

CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu's O. Panneerselvam and other members of AIADMK today broke down during the oath-taking ceremony in which the former TN finance minister succeeded the jailed J. Jayalalithaa, who Saturday began serving a four-year prison sentence for corruption.

Aged 63, Panneerselvam was elected the leader of the AIADMK legislature party Sunday evening.

29 ministers in AIADMK's government were also sworn in again as ministers.

Panneerselvam, who once ran a tea stall, 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.

Earlier in the day, Jayalalithaa filed a criminal revision petition in the Karnataka High Court here, seeking suspension of the four-year jail sentence and bail in the corruption case.

Jayalalithaa's senior counsel B. Kumar filed a set of four applications with the high court registrar for an early hearing, seeking suspension of the sentence, bail for her release, review of the hefty Rs.100 crore fine and stay on conviction, an AIADMK leader told IANS here.

As the high court is on a week-long holiday till Oct 6, the petitions will be put up before a vacation bench, which will hear only urgent or special cases Tuesday.

A special court here Saturday convicted Jayalalithaa in the 18-year-old case of amassing wealth disproportionate to her known income and sentenced her to four years in jail.

Jayalalithaa was jailed late Saturday after a special judge sentenced her to four years in prison for amassing wealth illegally when she was chief minister in 1991-96. She was also fined Rs 100 crore.

The properties include about 800 kg of silver, 28 kg of gold ornaments, 750 pairs of shoes, 10,500 saris, 91 watches and other valuables.

Along with Jayalalithaa, three others were also sentenced to four years in jail in the case although the fine imposed is Rs.10 crore on each of them.

The three convicted are Sasikala Natarajan, V.N. Sudhakaran and J. Illavarasi.

Jayalalithaa has been disqualified from being a member of the Tamil Nadu assembly and removed from the chief minister's post Monday after the trial court submitted a copy of the 900-page judgement to Tamil Nadu Governor K. Rosaiah in Chennai.