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EPS faction urges Speaker to change OPS’s seating arrangement in House
The warring leaders are now attending the session by sitting on the same two-seating bench as EPS is the leader of the opposition and OPS is deputy leader of the opposition.
A controversy erupted in Tamil Nadu state assembly after All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam interim general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) — who had been sitting next expelled AIADMk leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) during the ongoing session — on Tuesday again requested the speaker M Appavu to change his seating arrangement, people in the know of the matter said.
After the AIADMK-led EPS expelled OPS in July, they had urged the speaker to remove OPS or change his seat in the previous session. The request was denied. OPS is firm not to give up on his seat and his position in the AIADMK as he has moved the Supreme Court against his expulsion.
The warring leaders are now attending the session by sitting on the same two-seating bench as EPS is the leader of the opposition and OPS is deputy leader of the opposition.
On Tuesday, an EPS-led delegation met the speaker and appealed that he recognise “MLA R B Udhayakumar, as the deputy leader of the AIADMK legislature party replacing OPS”. They also requested that Udhayakumar be given a seat. Currently, EPS and OPS are sitting next to each other, without speaking and acknowledging each other, one of the people quoted above said.
The EPS faction contended: “Since OPS has been removed as a primary member of the party, they — the majority — had chosen another deputy leader of opposition in July”.
The AIADMK’s strength in the 234-member assembly is 66. OPS has the support of three MLAs while the majority are backing EPS.
The same situation had prevailed during the assembly session in October 2022 when both EPS and OPS had approached the speaker to recognise their respective factions as the real AIADMK. The speaker did not take a call on it so the EPS faction had boycotted the assembly. At that time the speaker had said that he “is bound to recognise all the MLAs”.
“We have once again asked that the Speaker to resolve this issue soon. When the party wants to replace the leader of opposition, the request should be considered,” a senior AIADMK leader said , requesting anonymity.
Udhayakumar like OPS belongs to the Mukulathor community so it’s a tactical move to not antagonise the community’s vote bank which is currently already split by TTV Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and his aunt V K Sasikala who are trying to reclaim the AIADMK.
