Panneerselvam to be TN Deputy Chief Minister

Chennai: Former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam will be sworn in Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister, it was announced on Monday.

A Raj Bhavan announcement also said that former Minister K. Pandiarajan will be sworn in as Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture.

The statement said Panneerselvam would be designated the Deputy Chief Minister and allocated the Finance portfolio.

The two factions of the AIADMK on Monday merged, six months after they split following the death of then Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.

Former Chief Minister O. Paneerselvam was made the Coordinator of the merged AIADMK. Chief Minister K. Palaniswami will be the Joint Coordinator, the Chief Minister announced at a brief function at the party headquarters here while announcing the merger.

A decision is likely to be taken on the "formal expulsion" of V K Sasikala and her family members, a key demand by the OPS camp that still remains unmet. In a resolution on August 10, the chief minister's camp had already delegitimised Deputy general Secretary and Sasikala's nephew TTV Dhinakaran setting the stage for a merger.