O Panneerselvam goes extra mile to state that he is performing his role as stand-in CM

CHENNAI: On a quiet afternoon late last month, when the guards outside Poes Garden were looking for signs of chief minister O Panneerselvam driving in to meet the AIADMK chief, they were in for a surprise. There was no convoy, no pilot vehicle, no siren and not even the CM’s personal secretary. Just one car quietly rolled in through the gates of Amma’s Poes Garden residence.

And inside the car were just the driver and the man J Jayalalithaa picked to be her successor after being convicted of corruption and losing office in September. “Now it has become a standard practice.

As soon as the CM reaches the street that leads to madam’s residence, he asks everyone else to fall back, the red beacon light is switched off and just his car drives in,” a person aware of the action around Poes Garden told ET. “Unless madam (Jayalalithaa) has called other senior ministers, the CM goes in alone and absolutely quietly.”

CM yet to enter his chamber

Another source said that Panneerselvam does not take the same route that Jayalalithaa used to travel from the secretariat to Poes Garden. Instead he takes a circuitous route going through narrow side lanes to reach her residence. “In fact a police official had to show the convoy a small connecting road to help the chief minister avoid taking a one-way road along the new route,’’ the source said.

Panneerselvam is performing his role as a stand-in chief minister for the second time — he did so earlier when Jayalalithaa had to step down in 2001 when she was defending a separate corruption case. In Panneerselvam’s previous stint that lasted for a few months, he had not done many of the things he is doing this time around. He never asked his convoy to stay behind or other officials to fall back then. “Files are brought to the Garden to be shown to the former chief minister.

She spends time with some senior officials and three ministers apart from Panneerselvam,” a source said. In the last meeting on Wednesday, Panneerselvam is said to have spent about an hour discussing with Jayalalithaa issues relating to the state administration. AIADMK sources say that this time Panneerselvam is going the extra mile to state the obvious -- the fact that he is just a substitute holding the post of chief minister until Jayalalithaa returns to claim it.

After being released on bail on October 18, Jayalalithaa has not stepped out of her house. Others convicted along with her, including her close aide Sasikala, head out once in a while, but only for short periods. Sources also confirmed that the primary focus of Jayalalithaa was on tackling legal issues. She has time till December 18 to appear before the Karnataka High Court and a majority of her time is spent with lawyers and legal experts.

The administration, however, awaits her instructions and the entire state machinery looks to her for directions. Top bureaucrats and the chief minister visit individually for consultation on matters of immediate importance.

More than 40 days after assuming office, Panneerselvam has still not entered the chief minister’s chamber at the secretariat and he still functions from the same room he had when he was finance minister before being plucked once again by Jayalalithaa and appointed to the top job in Tamil Nadu.