Palaniswami sworn in TN Chief Minister

Edappadi K Palaniswami, a V K Sasikala loyalist, was on Thursday sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, ending the 10-day political uncertainty in the state which began with caretaker CM O Panneerselvam's revolt against the AIADMK general secretary.

Palaniswami was invited by the Governor on Thursday to form the government after he submitted a list of 124 MLAs supporting him on Wednesday night. The newly anointed chief minister will prove his majority on the floor of the House on Saturday.

He is the third person to occupy the top post in the last nine months.

Governor C Vidyasagar Rao administered the oath of office and secrecy to 63-year-old Palaniswami, a party veteran from the western part of the southeastern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, at the head of a 31-member Cabinet at a ceremony at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening.

The ministers were sworn-in in batches.

Palaniswami is the third AIADMK leader to be sworn-in as Chief Minister in the last nine months. AIDMK supremo and Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had powered the party to a rare successive term in office in the state in the May 2016 Assembly Polls. She continued in the post through her grim 74-day battle for life.

Within hours of her death on December 5, Panneerselvam, who had filled in for Jayalalithaa twice in the past when she had to go to jail in corruption cases, was sworn-in as Chief Minister.

Panneerselvam later stepped down, paving the way for Sasikala, who was already chosen AIADMK general secretary, to be elected its legislature party leader on February five. Palaniswami, who on Thursday took office as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, will hold the important Home and Finance portfolios, which were earlier held by his predecessor O Panneerselvam.

Besides, the new Chief Minister will also take care of other key portfolios of Public Works, Highways and Minor Ports, which he had managed as a minister in the Jayalalithaa and Panneerselvam cabinets.

Meanwhile, outgoing Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on Thursday said his fight will continue against AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala and her family until the time J Jayalalithaa's regime was restored.

"Let us together stop the party and government from going into the hands of a single family again. Let us form a people's government again in sync with the aspirations of the people and till then, this struggle will continue," he said.

He said the action to install such a regime was without understanding the feelings of the people and party workers.