Venugopal told the court that he had given legal opinion to the AIADMK faction led by Panneerselvam.
The ruling faction's announcement came two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang up Palaniswami to seek his party's support.
Sasikala's declaration of staying away from politics does not necessarily have to mean that she was retiring for good. She is only taking time to evaluate the post-poll chances of hers before digging in again, if possible, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
"Since the central government had assisted in the treatment of Jayalalithaa, it has a responsibility to unravel the mystery surrounding her death... Therefore, using its authority, it should immediately order a CBI probe into the matter," he said.
The apex court also rejected her plea for an open court hearing of the review petitions.
'When someone gives you one kilo of gold you have some obligations to them'
MK Stalin's ruling AIDMK rival does not thankfully face such problems as he did, but its problems could be worse if saner counsel does not prevail between now and the assembly polls, warns N Sathiya Moorthy.
Justice G Jayachandran said there is ample evidence placed before the court by the prosecution to show that these accused were involved in cheating the government by producing forged documents.
A meeting presided over by Palaniswami said the appointment of Dinakaran as deputy general secretary was against party rules.
M K Stalin also opposed the naming of government schemes after her and "the use of taxpayers' money for her 69th birthday celebrations" on Friday.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to give an urgent hearing on a PIL seeking to restrain AIADMK leader V K Sasikala from being sworn in as Tamil Nadu chief minister till it decides the disproportionate assets case against her.
The party's Lok Sabha MPs Jaisingh Thiyagaraj Natterjee (Tuticorin), Senguttuvan (Vellore) and R P Marutharaja (Perambalur) extended their support to Pannerselvam.
The sidelined leader's victory is being seen as a worrying development both for AIADMK and principal opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which finished third behind the ruling party.
"Chinnamma has given valuable suggestions to Amma regarding party administration and also on governance. Like this, the list of traits of Chinnamma can go on," he said.
Siddaramaiah said she could have approached any of her superiors about her charges against senior officials.
Palaniswami is the third AIADMK leader to be sworn-in as the chief minister in the last nine months.
She visited her husband M Natarajan, who underwent liver and kidney transplantation at a hospital in Chennai, on all five days of her parole period.
The AIADMK leader's car briefly halted in front of a Ganesha temple in Kotturpuram and she prayed from inside the vehicle as used to be done by Jaya.
This time round, even 'petrol coupons' were reportedly distributed for those attending campaign rallies, especially those addressed by top leaders, cutting across party lines. If this owed to the rising cost of petrol and diesel -- which is a poll issue this time -- there were the customary coupons for 'quarter' (liquor bottle size) and non-vegetarian biryani. Some media reports claimed that some of these 'crowds' attended more than one political rally on the same day in the last week, and at times for rival political parties in adjoining constituencies or districts, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
"It is all your imagination and guess work," a senior leader said when asked about reports of Sasikala taking over from Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.
The chief minister may have Prime Minister Modi's backing.
The meeting also discussed the validity of the appointments made by Sasikala before going to jail.
'It is not a merger. It is a commercial agreement reached for self-interest,' he said.
Panneerselvam's remark came a day after the two factions were squabbling and blaming each other for the delay in the talks getting off the ground.
Without strategising together, Jayalalithaa's successor, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, and M Karunanidhi's son-cum-successor, M K Stalin, have used tough-talking on seat-sharing with allies, to replace charisma that they purportedly lacked, during the run-up to the assembly polls scheduled for April 6, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The court said there was no infirmity in the poll panel's decision to allot the AIADMK name and two leaves symbol to the faction headed by Palaniswami.
The apex court had on February 14 convicted current All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief V K Sasikala and two others in the case while abating the proceedings against Jayalalithaa as she had died.
He said his faction will formally file a petition with the Election Commission of India on Friday.
The Tamil Nadu government on Monday said Apollo Hospitals and AIIMS reports on the treatment given to late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has clearly suggested that she passed away on December 5 after a massive cardiac arrest.
Jeyanandh Dhivakaran, son of Sasikala's brother, V Dhivaharan, is making headlines in Tamil Nadu politics, reports Gireesh Babu.
From Chief Minister EK Palaniswami to Seeman to TTV Dhinakaran to elder brother M K Azhagiri, everyone's favourite target these days seems to the DMK chief Stalin, which is good news in an election year, but that doesn't mean he is going to sweep the polls, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
"A letter addressed to the governor, bearing my signature, is being circulated stating that I will kill myself. I would like to say that this letter is fake. It shows that there are some people, who cannot tolerate a lady's entry in electoral politics," Sasikala said.
The counsel told the HC that one of the MLAs had written to the governor and the DGP stating that he had escaped from confinement.
The report said Sasikala was allowed to wear her personal clothes and cook. A pressure cooker and spices were found in her prison cell.
"The result of the RK Nagar bypoll is an outcome of the tacit understanding between DMK working president M K Stalin and Dinakaran," Panneerselvam and Palaniswami said in a joint statement on Sunday night.
Fighting as an independent, Dinakaran was up against ruling AIADMK's E Madhusudanan and DMK's N Maruthu Ganesh.
'Votes-for-notes no longer only means cash and goodies for fence-sitting voters,' points out Sunil Sethi.
It is thanks to these internal differences that the much-awaited merger between the two factions has not made any headway so far, reports R Rajagopalan.
Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai appealed to the newly appointed party general secretary V K Sasikala to become Tamil Nadu chief minister, saying the leadership in both the party and governance should be with the same person.
Party treasurer and Chief Minister O Panneerselvam said, "In tune with party rules, honourable Chinnamma is appointed AIADMK general secretary and a resolution to this effect has been adopted unanimously by the general council."
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