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N Sathiya Moorthy in Madras
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa called on Governor C Rangarajan on Friday afternoon and submitted the resignation of her council of ministers after the Supreme Court struck down her appointment as unconstitutional.
Simultaneously, the leadership of the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has convened a meeting of the party's legislators at 1800 IST to decide on an alternative.
Disclosing this to reporters outside the Raj Bhavan, Jayalalithaa said the new chief minister would be sworn in by Friday night.
Indications are that the party may settle for a 'short-term' alternative chief minister of Jayalalithaa's choice.
The urgency in swearing in a new chief minister results from a legal hassle. With the Supreme Court's decision causing an immediate vacancy, the governor is under compulsion to fill it without loss of time.
Dr Rangarajan held discussions with senior officials of the state government soon after the court gave its verdict. Earlier, the Cabinet met at Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence. Advocate-General N R Chandran was present at the meeting.
That Jayalalithaa was bracing to induct a short-term chief minister became clear when, in a statement, she said the Supreme Court had only quashed her appointment, not altered the AIADMK's majority in the state assembly.
She also urged partymen not to create a situation where the rival DMK, a part of the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre, could claim that the constitutional order in the state had broken down and seek the imposition of President's rule.
Jayalalithaa also assured her partymen that the current arrangement would be temporary and she would return to power after getting her name cleared by the courts.
Meanwhile, DMK president M Karunanidhi said the law had taken its course. "I am neither happy nor unhappy," he said, adding that there was no constitutional crisis following the verdict.
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