Headlines
Jayalalithaa elected as AIADMK legislature party leader
Chennai, May 22
The lawmakers of AIADMK party
on Friday elected their general secretary J. Jayalalithaa as the leader
of the legislature party, a party leader said.
In a meeting held
at the party headquarters here in the morning, AIADMK legislators
unanimously elected Jayalalithaa as the leader of the legislature party,
said the leader who did not want to be named.
"It was a short meeting mainly to elect Amma (Jayalalithaa) as the AIADMK's legislature party leader," he told IANS.
It is expected that Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam would submit his resignation during the day.
It is also expected that Jayalalithaa would be sworn in as the chief minister on Saturday, according to party sources.
Party cadres in large numbers were assembled at the AIADMK headquarters here since early morning.
Later
in the day, Jayalalithaa would offer floral tributes at the party
founder late M.G. Ramachandran's (MGR) statue, the DMK founder late C.N.
Annadurai's and Dravidar Kazhagam founder late E.V. Ramaswamy's statue
here.
Jayalalithaa had to leave the chief ministership and
assembly seat (Srirangam constituency) after she was convicted and given
a four year jail term with Rs.100 crore fine by a trial court in
Bengaluru in a disproportionate asset case.
The Karnataka High Court upheld her appeal against the conviction and acquitted her recently.
On
May 17, P. Vetrivel, a party legislator representing Radhakrishnan
Nagar assembly constituency, resigned from his post and the same was
accepted by the speaker. It is expected Jayalalithaa would contest for
re-election from Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency.
With Vetrivel's resignation, the AIADMK's strength in the 234-member assembly comes down by one to 150, excluding the speaker.