O Panneerselvam gets down to work, sends letter to PM

CHENNAI: Reconciling to the idea that AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa is likely to remain in the Parapana Agrahara prison until October 7 when her bail plea would be taken up by the Karnataka high court, the new chief minister O Panneerselvam got down to work, sending a letter to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the fishermen issue and greeting people for Vijayadasami.
Panneerselvam had a marathon session at the secretariat on Wednesday, holding discussions with key government officials, including advisor to government, Sheela Balakrishnan, chief secretary Mohan Verghese Chunkath and DGP K Ramanujam, besides secretaries.Assembly secretary A M B Jamaludeen had a briefing with the CM and advocate general A L Somayaji too called on Panneerselvam even as Karnataka HC judge Rathnakala adjourned the hearing on Jayalaithaa’s bail plea.
On Monday when he took charge, Panneerselvam broke down when senior bureaucrats met him in his chambers at the secretariat. “He was completely depressed and broke down,” said an officer, who met him. On Wednesday, Panneerselvam seemed to have recovered his poise and calmly carried out his duties as CM. “He also had a brief meeting with officials on the preparedness for the onset of the northeast monsoon,” another official said.
The CM’s Vijayadasami greetings to the people had more than a subtle reference to Jayalalithaa’s conviction in the wealth case. Quoting the famous line from Bharathiar’s poem Panchali Sabadam, “Dharmathin vaazhvadhanai soodhu kavvum, dharmam marubadiyum vellum (Sometimes deceit overwhelms dharma, but dharma will prevail eventually),” Panneerselvam said dharma would triumph over evil if people were confident about victory.
While it was business as usual in Namakkal Kavignar Malligai, the annex building that houses offices of secretaries and departments, sources said work slowed down as almost all the ministers were absent. They were either camping in Bangalore or on their way to Chennai. Visitors, who wished to meet the ministers with petitions were advised to return after a week. The staff of housing minister R Vaithialingam told this TOI correspondent to come after October 15. “Don’t you know the reason?” an officer in Health minister C Vijayabaskar’s office asked.
The slow pace of the new government has come in for criticism from political leaders. CPM state secretary G Ramakrishnan said the government led by Panneerselvam should now focus on welfare of public and bringing normalcy back in the state.
The Tamil Nadu assembly secretariat is yet to notify to the chief electoral office about Srirangam assembly seat falling vacant in the wake of a court order disqualifying Jayalalithaa from holding public office. The assembly portal continued to display AIADMK supremo as chief minister. “Polls will have to be held to the Srirangam seat within six months from the time it falls vacant. Delay in notification will not hamper this,” said a source. In fact, the Rajya Sabha secretariat informed the Election Commission about disqualification of DMK Rajya Sabha MP R Selvaganapathy, who was convicted in a corruption case, after 14 days.