Edappadi Palanisamy: Meet the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

E. Palanisamy, AIADMK General Secretary V.K. Sasikala's choice, will be sworn in on Thursday evening as the new Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, the Raj Bhavan announced. Soon after AIADMK Sasikala Natarajan was convicted in the disproportionate assets case on Tuesday and was asked to surrender immediately, she nominated E. Palanisamy as the AIADMK Legislative Party leader who is now set to be the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu with Governor C Vidyasagar Rao inviting him to form the government.

Palanisamy was a senior minister in the O Panneerselvam cabinet. He met Tamil Nadu Governor on Thursday morning at the Raj Bhavan with four key aides including KA Sengottaiyan and SP Velumani after he was invited by the Governor and has also proven his majority by submitting the signatures of 124 AIADMK MLAs supporting him. 

pic.twitter.com/tjn2OFcIVH

— AIADMK (@AIADMKOfficial) February 16, 2017

After swearing-in Palaniswamy has to seek the vote of confidence of the Tamil Nadu Assembly within fifteen days to prove his majority.

Who is Edappadi Palanisamy? Here are some things to know about the new Chief Minister of Tamil nadu:

• Palanisamy, who was born on March 2, 1954 in Andhiyur, has been a loyal supporter of Jayalalithaa and Sasikala both. He was the PWD minister in the AIADMK-led government in Tamil Nadu and is the state minister for highways and minor ports. 
• Palanisamy was part of the Jayalalithaa's “famous five” in the AIADMK along with Panneerselvam, Natham R Viswanathan, V Vaithilingam and P Palaniappan.
• When former chief minister Jayalalithaa was hospitalised, two names had come up for caretaker chief minister--O Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palanisamy.
• Palanisamy was first elected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 1971, on the DMK ticket. He switched to the AIADMK in 1984 and win from the Edappadi constituency in 1984, 1989, 1991, 2011 and 2016.
• He belongs to the Gounder community and a four-time MLA from his native Edappadi constituency.
• He supported Jayalalithaa when the party split after the death of its founder M.G. Ramachandran in 1987.