O. Panneerselvam

O. Paneerselvam
File:O. Panneerselvam .jpg
Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
Preceded by	J. Jayalalithaa
Succeeded by	J. Jayalalithaa
Constituency	Periyakulam
Personal details
Born	January 1951 Periyakulam Tamilnadu
Political party	AIADMK
Residence	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu,Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Member of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly

O. Paneerselvam (Tamil: ஒ. பன்னீர்செல்வம் ) (born January 1951) is the current Finance Minister and a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Prior to his entry into politics, he owned agricultural lands and a tea shop which he still owns. He was the chairman of Periakulam municipality in 1996. Then he contested the 2001 MLA election from Periakulam and become the PWD minister. He is the first person from Thevar caste to become the CM of Tamil Nadu. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in September 2001 after the appointment of the then Chief Minister and AIADMK party chief J. Jayalalithaa was quashed^[1] by the Supreme Court of India. In March 2002, he resigned as Chief Minister and J. Jayalalithaa was sworn in after the Supreme Court overturned her conviction and sentence and she won a by-election from Andipatti assembly constituency. During his stint as Chief Minister, he was widely criticized of heading a puppet government closely micro-managed by Jayalalithaa.^[2]

After his resignation he became the Public Works Department minister in the Jayalalithaa government. O. Paneerselvam was the leader of the AIADMK legislative party and the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for about two weeks, after the party lost the assembly elections in May 2006. In that election he was elected to be the member of Tamil Nadu legislative assembly from Periyakulam. After all the AIADMK legislators were suspended by the speaker of the house, Jayalalithaa who had decided not to attend the Legislative Assembly decided to return and replaced O. Paneerselvam as the Leader of the Opposition. [1] He has been twice elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly from Periyakulam constituency. His confidants affectionately call him, with his initials, 'OPS'.

References

1. ^ On September 21, 2001, a five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of India ruled in a unanimous verdict that "a person who is convicted for a criminal offence and sentenced to imprisonment for a period of not less than two years cannot be appointed the Chief Minister of a State under Article 164 (1) read with (4) and cannot continue to function as such". Thereby, the bench decided that "in the appointment of Ms. Jayalalithaa as Chief Minister there has been a clear infringement of a Constitutional provision and that a writ of quo warranto must issue". In effect her appointment as Chief Minister was declared null and invalid with retrospective effect. Therefore, technically, she was not the Chief Minister between May 14, 2001 and September 21, 2001 (The Hindu — SC unseats Jayalalithaa as CM, Full text of the judgment from official Supreme Court site).
2. ^ Balu, A. (2001-12-08). "Jaya in no hurry to be back as CM". The Tribune. http://www.tribuneindia.com/2001/20011208/nation.htm#5. Retrieved 2008-12-31. 

Preceded by J. Jayalalithaa

Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu

Succeeded by J. Jayalalithaa

Persondata
Name	Panneerselvam, O.
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1951
Place of birth	Periyakulam Tamilnadu
Date of death
Place of death