Jayalalithaa elected as AIADMK legislature party leader

The lawmakers of AIADMK party on Friday elected their general secretary J. Jayalalithaa as the leader of the legislature party, a party leader said.

In a meeting held at the party headquarters here in the morning, AIADMK legislators unanimously elected Jayalalithaa as the leader of the legislature party, said the leader who did not want to be named.

"It was a short meeting mainly to elect Amma (Jayalalithaa) as the AIADMK's legislature party leader," he told IANS.

It is expected that Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam would submit his resignation during the day.

It is also expected that Jayalalithaa would be sworn in as the chief minister on Saturday, according to party sources.

Party cadres in large numbers were assembled at the AIADMK headquarters here since early morning.

Later in the day, Jayalalithaa would offer floral tributes at the party founder late M.G. Ramachandran's (MGR) statue, the DMK founder late C.N. Annadurai's and Dravidar Kazhagam founder late E.V. Ramaswamy's statue here.

Jayalalithaa had to leave the chief ministership and assembly seat (Srirangam constituency) after she was convicted and given a four year jail term with Rs.100 crore fine by a trial court in Bengaluru in a disproportionate asset case.

The Karnataka High Court upheld her appeal against the conviction and acquitted her recently.

On May 17, P. Vetrivel, a party legislator representing Radhakrishnan Nagar assembly constituency, resigned from his post and the same was accepted by the speaker. It is expected Jayalalithaa would contest for re-election from Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency.

With Vetrivel's resignation, the AIADMK's strength in the 234-member assembly comes down by one to 150, excluding the speaker.