Panneerselvam steps down as Tamil Nadu chief minister

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader O Panneerselvam on Friday stepped down from his post as the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, even as party supremo J Jayalalithaa was re-elected as the legislature party leader at a meeting held in Chennai.

Panneerselvam submitted his resignation to Tamil Nadu Governor K Rosaiah, accompanied by some of his ministers including, Natham Viswanathan,Vaithiyalingam, Edappadi Palaniswami and Palaniyappan.

Earlier, AIADMK MLAs unanimously elected Jayalalithaa as their leader, thereby, paving way for her to become chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

The former chief minister of Tamil Nadu is expected to meet the Governor at Raj Bhavan later in the day to stake a claim to form the government.

Jayalalithaa is likely to take oath as the state chief minister on Saturday, say reports.

She was acquitted by the Karnataka high court in the 19-year-old disproportionate assets case earlier this month.

In September last year, she was forced to step down as the chief minister following her conviction by the court.