Sasikala swears in as the new Tamil Nadu chief minister sometime this week. It will be the fastest rise to power by anybody in Indian politics, except Bihar’s Rabri Devi, who was asked to keep the chair warm for her husband Lalu Prasad Yadav when he had to step down on corruption charges two decades ago.
Rabri was an illiterate housewife and an absolute neophyte, but she went on to rule the state for three truncated terms. In comparison, Sasikala has a whole term ahead of her; and unlike Rabri, it’s no stop-gap arrangement. Her chief ministership will be real, she will be her only boss and there will be no time out.
Although Sasikala got extremely lucky to become the first chief minister in India whose only claim to the post is her role as a caregiver to an incumbent who died in harness, it’s truly a daunting task because she will now be the executive head of a state with constitutional obligations. Moreover, she has to fit into the shoes of J Jayalalithaa, who was both a mass leader and one of the most experienced politician-administrators in the country.
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