Sasikala set to be Tamil Nadu CM: Chidambaram says people `now moving in opposite directions`

Chennai: Former finance minister P Chidambaram on Monday said it is the right of the people to ask if a leader deserves to be a chief minister.

His comment came a day after AIADMK MLAs on Sunday elected general secretary VK Sasikala, 59, as their legislature leader, two months after her mentor J Jayalalithaa died.

The legislators unanimously chose Sasikala, who is not a member of the Assembly, for the post. And she lost no time in saying that outgoing Chief Minister O Panneerselvam himself wanted her to head the government.

Taking to Twitter, the Congress` senior leader said: “It is the right of AIADMK MLAs to elect their leader. It is the right of the people to ask if the leader deserves to be CM.”

“Looking back with pride, TN CM chair was occupied by Kamaraj and Anna. AIADMK and PEOPLE OF TAMIL NADU are now moving in opposite directions.”

The AIADMK's decision has not gone down well with former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa's niece Deepa Jayakumar too.

Talking to India Today, Jayakumar said that Sasikala taking over the CM post would be akin to military rule in Tamil Nadu.

Expelled AIADMK leader and Sasikala’s namesake Sasikala Pushpa said: “A criminal cannot be the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu”.

The main opposition DMK said it was "shocked" that the AIADMK had chosen an administratively inexperienced Sasikala as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, one of India's biggest states.

"People didn't vote for Sasikala," DMK Working President MK Stalin said. The DMK said Sunday was a "black day" for Tamil Nadu.

Sasikala said: "Since everyone stressed that one person should hold both the posts - Chief Minister and General Secretary of the party - I agreed."

Sasikala belongs to the Thevar community, which has a dominant say in the AIADMK.

Bharatiya Janata Party's Tamil Nadu president Tamilisai Soundararajan agreed that electing Sasikala was the AIADMK MLAs' right but wondered what was the urgency.