Jayalalithaa elected AIADMK legislature party leader, set to become CM as Panneerselvam resigns

AIADMK legislators re-elected J Jayalalithaa as the legislature party leader on Friday, paving the way for her return as the Tamil Nadu chief minister following her acquittal in a disproportionate assets case.

Party MLAs, including chief minister O Panneerselvam, assembled at the party headquarters in Chennai in the morning and re-elected Jayalalithaa as AIADMK legislative chief.

Panneerselvam, who headed straight to Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence, resigned soon after the meeting.

Chennai: Celebrations outside AIADMK office. #JayaReturns pic.twitter.com/4GJ2hfvSd8

— ANI (@ANI_news) May 22, 2015

Later in the day, Jayalalithaa is expected to appear in public for the first time after her acquittal and garland statues of AIADMK leaders, including mentor and party founder MG Ramachandran, DMK founder CN Annadurai and DK leader Periyar EV Ramasamy.

She will visit Raj Bhavan to call on governor K Rosiah and stake claim to form a government. Party sources indicate that she could be sworn in as the chief minister on Friday or on Saturday.

Clearing the decks for Jayalalithaa to contest from an assembly constituency once she assumes office as chief minister for the fifth time, P Vetrivel, AIADMK MLA from north Chennai’s Radhakrishnan Nagar, had resigned on May 17 .

With the resignation of Vetrivel, the AIADMK now has a strength of 150 in the 234-member assembly.

Jayalalithaa had to resign from the assembly and her post as chief minister after she was convicted by a trial court in the disproportionate assets case last September.

On May 11, the Karnataka high court upturned the trial court conviction and cleared 67-year-old Jayalalithaa of all charges in the graft case. However, the Karnataka government had announced that it would challenge Jayalalithaa’s acquittal in the Supreme Court.

Jayalalithaa used to represent the temple town of Srirangam in the assembly. After her resignation, the party managed to retain the seat through a by-election by a huge margin.

Read:

Jayalalithaa acquitted in graft case, celebrations erupt in AIADMK camp

Yes, madam: Tamil Nadu CM Panneerselvam makes way for Jayalalithaa

Jayalalithaa no longer disqualified as election candidate

Amma is back: AIADMK website sparkles with crackers and colours

Jayalalithaa elected AIADMK legislature party leader, set to become CM as Panneerselvam resigns