One can guess the seriousness of her ailment when her trusted colleague O. Panneerselvam has been given charge of the portfolios held by the ailing Chief Minister. Jayalalithaa will continue to be CM without portfolio. The arrangement will continue until Jayalalithaa resumes her duties. This is the third time Panneerselvan has been asked to step into his leader’s shoes although there is difference. In 2001 and 2004, he has taken over as CM after Jayalalithaa had stepped down—the first time following a court order in TANSI case, the next time on account of her conviction in an asset case.

This time, OPS, as he is popularly known, has only been given the CM’s portfolios, not the top post. According to AIADMK sources, it was largely a political decision to silence opposition’s questions about Jayalalithaa’s health. The choice is on a leader who is so trusted an aide of her that he has often been described as a “proxy” by her critics.

Opposition parties were getting uneasy over possibilities that unelected members of her inner circle could be calling the shots. Perhaps the arrangement could have been made a few days earlier, if only the ruling party had shown less reluctance to acknowledge the reality that the CM’s health does not permit her to discharge her duties.

Aides say Panneerselvam comes across as satisfied with what he has. A friend from his home town said his biggest dream had been to become chairman of the municipality of his home town. “He fulfilled that in 1996, and has treated all subsequent positions as gift of God or Amma”.

The brief falling out came amid allegations that Panneerselvam’s family had amassed wealth during his stint as CM. He was targeted for growing clout of his son, brother and brother-in-law. Jayalalithaa removed those close to Panneerselvam from key positions and kept him out of election decision making body.

Yet she appeared less harsh on him than on others. The then power minister Nathan Vishwanath and then education minister Palaniappam too faced her wrath for similar charges. Panneerselvam apologized and promised to correct his mistakes. He retained his position unlike others.

Panneerselvam is said have the confidence of Jayalalithaa’s close aide, Sasikala. Both are Thevars, a politically powerful OBC community.

Developments in 1984, when governor S L Khurana reassigned M G Ramachandran’s portfolio to V R Nadunchezhiyan and asked the latter to preside over cabinet meetings, constituted a guiding precedence favoured by jurists. D D Basu says in his Shorter Constitution of India: if the Governor allocates the functions of the chief minister to some other senior minister during the temporary absence (say illness) of the CM, functions of CM can be discharged by some other minister, e g, to preside over council of ministers meetings; to communicate to the governor the cabinet decisions.

It is often said that the Constitution is wisely silent on some aspects, so that constitutional functionaries are not unduly constrained by mere words and may act effectively to deal with variety of emergent situations. However, given what transpired recently in Tamil Nadu, it may be advisable to adopt the convention that the minister next in seniority to the chief minister is automatically recognized as the officiating chief executive when he or she is temporarily unavailable, due to ill health or otherwise.

In absence of CM, Sasikala, has been taking key decisions. A close aide of Jayalalithaa since late 1980s, she had stood by her during a difficult phase following the death of MGR. In 2011 following allegations that she was working against Jayalalithaa, Sasikala was seen packing out of the leader’s house. She returned four months later in April 2012. Although her husband Natarajan and nephew Sudhakaran (Jayalalithaa’s foster son) are now out of favour, Sasikala has remained a key figure in Jaya’ s closest circles. (IPA Service)