Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday announced that a one-person enquiry commission will investigate the death of late chief minister J Jayalalithaa, ANI reported. The commission will be constituted under a retired judge.

Palaniswami also said that Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden residence will be converted into a memorial. However, her niece Deepa Jayakumar alleged that she had the moral, ethical and legal claim over the house. “They have no right to announce this without consulting [Jayalalithaa’s] legal heirs, my brother [Deepak] and I,” she told reporters.

The rival faction of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led by former chief minister of Tamil Nadu, O Panneerselvam, welcomed the state government’s move. “Delighted to welcome two key moves by Palaniswami to set up judicial enquiry into Amma’s expiry and to convert Veda Nilayam into a memorial,” AIADMK MLA K Pandiarajan said on Twitter.

Pandiarajan further said it was time to now “transparently negotiate the merger” between the two factions.

Moreover, Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, where Jayalalithaa was treated before she died in December 2016, welcomed the state government’s decision to investigate her death.

On August 10, the Palaniswami camp had rejected the appointment of TTV Dinakaran as the deputy party general secretary. The Panneerselvam faction had laid out conditions for a merger between the two factions – first, that VK Sasikala and Dinakaran be removed from the party, and that a judicial probe be launched into Jayalalithaa’s death.