CHENNAI (TIP): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday announced that an inquiry commission headed by a retired High Court judge would be constituted to probe the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in December last year.

A decision on the judge who will head the commission will be taken in due course, Palaniswami said, flanked by several senior Cabinet Ministers at the Secretariat. Palaniswami also said that ‘Veda Nilayam’, the erstwhile residence of Jayalalithaa in Poes Garden here, would be converted into a public memorial, an announcement that was slammed by Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa Jayakumar, who questioned the unilateral decision sans consultations with heirs. Till date, it is not clear if Jayalalithaa left behind a will bequeathing her vast estate to anyone.

The sudden announcements are essentially seen as a move to put pressure on the AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) to come forward for negotiating a quick merger with the ruling AIADMK (Amma) and to checkmate “ousted” deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who is in a combative mood.

The Panneerselvam faction had laid down two conditions for a merger — an inquiry into Jayalalithaa’s death (varying from a CBI probe to a judicial probe) and expelling Sasikala and her family from the AIADMK. During Jayalalithaa’s 75- day hospitalisation, only Sasikala and the doctors and paramedical staff had access to her.

A campaign to convert the Veda Nilayam into a memorial was also launched by Panneerselvam.