Edapady Palanisamy Takes Oath as TN CM, Drama Not Over

Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao this morning invited Edapady Palanisamy to form next Government in Tamil Nadu, and he takes oath as Chief Minister. He has been given 15 days to prove his majority on the floor of assembly.

Edappadi K. Palanisamy takes oath as Tamil Nadu chief minister in a low-profile ceremony at Raj Bhawan. Interestingly he retained most of Panneerselvam’s ministers. AIADMK sources said that the majority will be proved as soon as possible on the floor of the house.

Eyebrows were raised when the governor gave 15 days to prove the majority on the floor of the Assembly. Usually such a long window period is not given for a floor test; it is usually one week.

So, will this period be used to wean away MLAs from the Sasikala camp? After all, the number game is too narrow for comfort. EPS has only 124 MLAs on his side — just 7 more than the half way mark of 117. It would be a herculean task for O Paneerselvam to trigger a mass exodus from Sasikala camp to his side. But if push comes to shove, he will use the threat of pulling down the government. For that, he needs just 8 MLAs, provided the DMK and Congress support his move.

He will not pull down the Government for gaining power.  OPS might say lets go to the people to decide which is the real AIADMK  This would make many in Sasikala camp jittery as they are aware that public sentiments are against them. No MLA, especially the Sasikala faction, wants a midterm poll.

OPS may also approach the Election Commission to question the elevation of Sasikala as the Interim General Secretary of the AIADMK since the bylaws do not provide such a post. If the Election Commission strikes it down, the ground under the feet of Edappadi will also start wobbling. This is because the very convening of the meeting of MLAs by Sasikala as party general secretary would be invalid.

Never short of drama, Tamil Nadu is heading for interesting days ahead.

So, interesting days ahead.