O. Paneerselvam

O. Paneerselvam




O. Paneerselvam (Tamil: ஒ. பன்னீர்செல்வம்) (born 1951) is a former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. Prior to his entry to politics, he owned a tea shop which he still owns. He was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in September 2001 after the appointment of then Chief Minister and AIADMK party chief J. Jayalalithaa was quashed 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.

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. 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.