Donning the political mantle in two months

From being a passive participant in politics and a friend who accompanied Jaya during campaign tours, one who decided the lunch menu of a chief minister, Sasikala, draped in a dark green and black saree, donned the role of a full-time politician the moment she climbed the stairs of Rajaji Hall and stood by the body of Jayalalithaa, after giving her nod for the midnight swearing in ceremony of O Panneerselvam. 

From then, it was all politics. In the days that followed, the AIADMK headquarters released statements of a plethora of leaders, including the likes of Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, calling on her at the ‘Garden’ to condole Jayalalithaa’s death. The images of her receiving editors and proprietors of media houses of all size and strengths added to the brand exercise, even while her family meticulously made party functionaries to publicly swear loyalty to her one after another.

Meanwhile, armies of AIADMK cadre gathered outside Poes Garden residence and persuaded her to step into Amma’s shoes. In the last week of December 2016, the emergency general council elected her general secretary and persuaded her to assume the office of general secretary, which, she did with theatrical perfection. 

Soon, the new general secretary began penning letters to Prime Minister on issues like fishermen, cyclone relief and the jallikattu row. Reticent ministers like RB Udayakumar even publicly denounced O Panneerselvam and shouted “chinnamma for CM.”

The build-up, that had slowed down a bit due to one emergency situation after another gathered momentum when the state government abruptly showed the doors to three favourite bureaucrats of Jayalalithaaa and culminated on Sunday afternoon when OPS tendered his resignation.