CHENNAI: Governor C Vidyasagar Rao is expected to decide by this afternoon who will take oath as Tamil Nadu's next Chief Minister and, sources said, is likely to invite E Palanisamy. Governor Rao had heard competing pitches on Wednesday night from within the ruling AIADMK, first meeting Mr Palanisamy, handpicked by party chief VK Sasikala and who claimed the support of 124 state legislators or MLAs.
Next up was O Panneerselvam, currently acting Chief Minister, who says he has 11 MLAs. Both want to take a trust vote in the legislature and presented the Governor with a list of legislators supporting them.
While numerically they are vastly unequal, both sides have displayed an equal competence for theatre and political skullduggery and the ability to channel the wishes of J Jayalalithaa, the party's authoritarian matriarch, who died two months ago while Chief Minister.
The AIADMK has 134 of Tamil Nadu's 234 legislators. The considerably larger faction is headed by Ms Sasikala, who was jailed in Bengaluru on Wednesday to serve four years for corruption.
The sentence, delivered on Tuesday, eliminated her bid as chief minister, a campaign that was centred on her close relationship with Ms Jayalalithaa, with whom she lived for over three decades. In her place, she has chosen Mr Palanisamy as the AIADMK's presumptive Chief Minister.
Members of this group accuse the Governor of "inordinate delay" and the AIADMK has launched an online campaign asking the public to complain in writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the deferral of a decision, which, they say, allows Mr Panneerselvam the chance to chip away at their team, which is sequestered at a resort to prevent defection.
Though Mr Panneerselvam's head count is skimpy, it would be unwise to dismiss him as a fly-by-night operator in this crisis, not least because public opinion has so far rallied behind him.
There's also the fact that he's acting Chief Minister, which, according to some experts, invests him with enough powers that his own claim to take a trust vote cannot be dismissed without consideration.
