In absence of Jayalalithaa, she is already calling the shots, having become the rallying point. Presently, Sasikala does not hold any senior post except a member of the party’s executive. She was with Amma for over three decades and protected her from enemies. She alone can be a binding force.

It was Sasikala who deflected any talk of the need for a change and insisted on going ahead with existing arrangement, which in effect means making Paneerselvam—who was de facto chief minister during Jayalalithaa’s illness—the chief minister. Another decision of hers was not to make any changes in existing cabinet.

The transition to new leadership was smooth and Paneerselvam was chosen chief minister. AIADMK has comfortable majority and elections are due only in 2021 and there ought to be no reason for any disruption in governance. But beneath the calm, there is anxiety about whether Paneerselvam can hold the party and the government together .He is a non-controversial leader with reasonable administrative experience. However, in absence of Jayalalithaa, can he hold the folk together? In all probability he will get support of Sashikala and other leaders. He is certain to hold the party together.

The AIADMK successfully met the first challenge by putting up almost a united show in installing Paneerselvam as CM leaving no room for uncertainty. Reports suggest that Jayalalithaa’s confidante, Sashikala, wanted to impose her own leadership choice on MLAs who turned it down and opted for someone (Paneerselvan) Amma had long trusted.

It is interesting to know how Paneerselvam became Chief Minister? Here is a sequence wise account. As anxious AIADMK MLAs gathered at the Apollo Hospital on December 5, the day after Jayalalithaa suffered a cardiac arrest, they had no clue about her condition or who would succeed her.

Only five senior ministers and party presidium chairman were aware of how grave her health condition was and how much it had deteriorated. As Jayalalithaa lay strapped to ECMO device, which was used as a last resort to keep her alive, her close aide Sasikala was holding parleys to sort out differences among claimants for the top post. Apart from Paneerselvam, the name of Thambidurai was floated as candidate.

It was Sasikala who deflected any talk of the need for a change and insisted on going ahead with existing arrangement. Sasikala and a section of the party leadership wanted to avoid any dissent. There were a lot of ex-ministers desperate to get a berth in the new cabinet. But it was decided to maintain status quo.

At around 5 pm, the MLAs gathered at the hospital were asked to go to party headquarters and wait there. A little later, a few Tamil television channels, as well as some newspaper websites jumped the gun by announcing Jayalalitha’s death.

This led to distraught scenes at the party headquarters, until hospital issued a clarification that she was alive. This was reassuring even though she was on life support. At the party headquarters, there were nervous guess of what lay in store. Three luxury buses pulled up outside, leading some of MLAs to wonder what was going on. “Could this be for transporting us to Raj Bhavan? Why was this done if Amma’s condition was improving?” These were the questions asked. However, the buses left in a while, calming nerves. The MLAs were still asked to wait.

It was irritating but MLAs felt there must be a reason for this. It was only after 11 pm that Paneerselvam and five senior AIADMK leaders arrived at party headquarters. The meeting was brief and MLAs were told that Amma was no more. Also it was decided to elect Paneerselvam as the leader of the AIADMK legislature party.

Each MLA was given four pieces of paper to sign. One supporting the resolution to unanimously elect Paneerselvam as the legislature party leader. Two, an intimation to the Governor about this election. Three and four, almost identical letters to Tamil Nadu Assembly secretary.

MLAs denied they were asked to sign blank papers as reported in a section of the media. The buses returned and the MLAs were transported to Raj Bhavan, where swearing-in of the new cabinet took place.(IPA Service)