O. Paneerselvam (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

J. Jayalalithaa

Jayalalithaa Jayaram ; born 24 February 1948) commonly referred to as J. Jayalalitha, is the Chief Minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. She is the incumbent general secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam , a Dravidian party. She is called Amma and Puratchi Thalaivi by her...

 was quashed by the Supreme Court of India

Supreme Court of India

The Supreme Court of India is the highest judicial forum and final court of appeal as established by Part V, Chapter IV of the Constitution 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

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 from Andipatti

Andipatti (State Assembly Constituency)

Andipatti is a constituency in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly, that includes the city, Andipatti. It is part of the Periyakulam .- Madras State :- Tamil Nadu :AssemblyDurationName of M.L.A.Party Affiliation...

 assembly constituency. During his stint as Chief Minister, he was widely criticized of heading a puppet government closely micro-managed by Jayalalithaa.

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

Opposition (parliamentary)

Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state...

 in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly for about two weeks, after the party lost the assembly elections in May 2006

Tamil Nadu state assembly election, 2006

The thirteenth legislative assembly election, of Tamil Nadu was held on May 8, 2006. It was held for all 234 constituencies to elect the government in the state of for the following five years. The votes were counted three days later on May 11, 2006 and all the results were out by the end of the day...

. In that election he was elected to be the member of Tamil Nadu legislative assembly from Periyakulam

Periyakulam (State Assembly Constituency)

Periyakulam is a state assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu. Elections were not held in year 1957 and 1962.- Madras State :- Tamil Nadu :- References :...

. 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. http://in.news.yahoo.com/060529/139/64mv2.html He has been twice elected to the Tamil Nadu assembly from Periyakulam

Periyakulam (State Assembly Constituency)

Periyakulam is a state assembly constituency in Tamil Nadu. Elections were not held in year 1957 and 1962.- Madras State :- Tamil Nadu :- References :...

constituency. His confidants affectionately call him, with his initials, 'OPS'.