Recognise Udhayakumar as deputy LoP: AIADMK tells Speaker

AIADMK on Friday urged Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu to recognise R B Udhayakumar as the deputy leader of its Legislature Party in place of O Panneerselvam and allot him the seat next to Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami in the House. 

A delegation of AIADMK MLAs met Appavu and handed over the third letter in over a year from Palaniswami on the issue. The Legislature Party in July 2022 removed OPS as its deputy leader following his expulsion from the AIADMK and elected Udhayakumar in his place. 

However, the Speaker didn’t take a call on the issue which led to OPS continuing to sit next to EPS in the Assembly, much to the discomfiture of the latter. The AIADMK has also taken objection to OPS being called as deputy leader of Opposition and has opposed his representing the party in the Assembly. 

“We requested the Speaker to recognise Udhayakumar as the deputy LoP and allot him the seat next to the LoP. This tradition was followed in the past too. During our government, LoP M K Stalin and deputy LoP Durai Murugan were seated next to each other in the front row. The same arrangement was done between 2011-2016 as well,” former Minister K A Sengottaiyan said. 

He added that the delegation urged the Speaker to convey his decision in writing to Palaniswami in his capacity as the Leader of Opposition. In response, the Speaker told the delegation that he will take a call on the issue very soon, Sengottaiyan said.

“We don’t want to make political statements against the Speaker,” he said, in response to a query whether politics was behind Appavu not deciding on the issue. 

The AIADMK’s move comes weeks before the Assembly will hold its sitting on October 9. With the Election Commission of India (ECI) recognising EPS as the general secretary of the AIADMK and ratifying the General Council meeting, the party believes the Speaker will accept the recommendation of the AIADMK Legislature Party and act accordingly.

Palaniswami, who was joint coordinator of the AIADMK, struck unannounced at his boss Panneerselvam, who was the coordinator as part of a BJP-brokered peace in 2017, in June 2022 and got the bye-laws of the party amended to bring back the general secretary post, which was reserved for Jayalalithaa at the July 11 General Council meeting. 

After a legal battle lasting several months, the Supreme Court declared the General Council meeting that appointed Palaniswami as interim general secretary as valid, following which the AIADMK conducted organisational polls. Months later, the ECI followed suit by ratifying the decisions of the GC meeting.