Chennai: Ending a nine-day stalemate in Tamil Nadu, Governor C Vidyasagar Rao invited Edappadi K Palaniswamy to form the government and seek vote of confidence from the assembly within 15 days of taking charge.

A Raj Bhavan release said that the Governor had taken into consideration the letter handed over by Palaniswamy on Tuesday.

Palaniswamy had been appointed as the legislative party leader on Tuesday soon after the conviction of AIADMK general secretary V K Sasikala in the Disproportionate Assets case. The same evening Palaniswamy had met the governor and also claimed that he had the support of 124 MLAs.

Acting Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had on Feb 7 broken away from the Sasikala-led AIADMK and sought to gain the support of a majority MLAs within the party. His plan was thwarted as Sasikala camp had transported most of the AIADMK MLAs to a resort at Koovathur near Chennai.

The MLAs continued to remain in the resort for about nine days in a row now and they were heard cheering for Palaniswamy soon after the news of the Governors decision reached them.