Ever since the demise of Parutchi Thalaivi Jayalalitha, her close aide VK Sasikala has been at the cutting edge of politics and AIADMK party in Tamil Nadu. After a lot of hustle and bustle, CM O Panneerselvam finally made way to her biggest political aspiration in state. Despite strong backlash from opposition, Sasikala managed to gain support from her party legislators.
But it now looks like she still hasn’t got the passport to become Chief Minister of TN, all thanks to pending disproportionate assets case against her.
In what could turn into a major hindrance for Sasikala just before taking oath as CM, the state governor on Monday sought a legal opinion from Attorney General Mukul Rohtangi as the unaccounted assets case against her was pending in the Supreme Court. Since Governor Vidyasagar Rao, who’s looking into the judicial implications of the pending case against VK Sasikala, is not expected to administer her oath ceremony at Madras University, Chinnamma might need to wait longer to grab the CM chair. Also on Monday, Mr. Rao had a brief meeting with union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on how to proceed further.
Ms Sasikala, Jayalalitha and two others were accused and also sent to jail in the disproportionate assets case which was convicted by a special court in Bangalore on 27th September, 2014. However, the Karnataka state high court overturned the trial court’s verdict in 2015. Apparently, this is something Sasikala wouldn’t have expected to stop her from taking over Tamil Nadu’s top job.
However, Governor did not conclude on whether Sasikala should stop taking oath till a verdict is exercised by the apex court. While the legal background of Sasikala is largely under debate, the Lok Sabha member of AIADMK party Sasikala Pushpa is strongly opposing her candidature and also wrote a letter to PM briefing about her ‘criminal activities’.