Panneerselvam pays homage to Jayalalithaa

Tamil Nadu’s acting Chief Minister O Panneerselvam yesterday night paid homage to late chief minister J Jayalalithaa at her memorial at the Marina beach here.Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar, who too was there at Marina along with Panneerselvam’s supporters, extended her support to him.Jayakumar, who had earlier announced she would announce her political journey on February 24, said: “My political journey begins today.”It was last Tuesday Panneerselvam after meditating at Jayalalithaa’s memorial dropped the news that he was forced to resign as chief minister by AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala so that she can occupy his post.Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s School Education Minister K Pandiarajan, who had gone to meet the legislators supporting Sasikala at the beach resort near here, had to return without success.Pandiarajan went to the resort to make necessary arrangements, so that acting Chief Minister O Panneerselvam could come there and seek the legislators’ support.But the police did not allow him to proceed further to prevent any untoward incident.The police also clamped orders prohibiting the gathering of four or more persons in Kuvathoor, around 90km from here, where the beach resort is located.It is not clear for how many more days the legislators would stay put at the beach resort.According to an AIADMK leader, the legislators may be asked to vacate the resort by the police.Panneerselvam has been saying that he would enjoy the support of majority of legislators if only they are not held in captivity at the resort. This charge has been denied by Sasikala and her supporters.On Monday there were reports of one lawmaker housed at the resort making a dramatic escape from the spot.S S Saravanan, who represents Madurai South, landed up at Panneerselvam’s residence, where he told the media that he scaled a wall and jumped down to escape. Saravanan also said that he had to disguise himself to escape from the beach resort.