Less than two hours after the Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s verdict in the disproportionate assets case against AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikalaand others, party MLAs staying at a resort in Koovathur on Tuesday elected highways minister Edappadi K Palaniswami as legislature party leader.
Palaniswami was elected as legislature party leader to stake claim for the chief minister post after Sasikala held talks with the legislators.
In a related development, chief minister O Panneerselvam has been expelled from the primary membership of the party.
V K Sasikala’s political aspirations came to an abrupt end today, with the Supreme Court upholding a special trial court’s conviction against her+ in a disproportionate assets case.
Quashing the Karnataka high court’s acquittal, the bench of Justices Pinaki C Ghose and Amitava Roy restored the conviction against former Tamil Nadu J Jayalalithaa, Sasikala Natarajan, Ilavarasi and VN Sudhakaran for criminal abetment in amassing properties worth more than Rs 66.65 crores.
The apex court directed Sasikala to be taken into custody for serving the remainder of her four year jail sentence.
In a nearly thousand page judgment, the Supreme Court restored the Bangalore trial court’s verdict in entirety for Jayalalithaa, Sasikala and two others.
