Dhanapal set to get elected as new Speaker

P Dhanapal, deputy speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, is set to get elected as speaker for which Governor K Rosaiah has summoned the House to meet on October 10.

P Dhanapal, deputy speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, is set to get elected as speaker for which governor K Rosaiah has summoned the House to meet on October 10.

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AIADMK supremo and chief minister Jayalalithaa has nominated Dhanapal, elected from Rasipuram (SC) constituency in Namakkal district for the post, vacated by D Jayakumar last week.

With numbers in the ruling AIADMK's side, the election of 61-year old Dhanapal, a four time MLA, as Speaker will in all certainty be a smooth affair.

In a surprise development, Jayakumar, a four-time MLA from the Royapuram constituency in Chennai, who became speaker soon after AIADMK came to power in May last, quit the post.

Though the reason for Jayakumar’s resignation was not known yet, party circles criticised him for "having indulged in self-promotion" and "encouraging factionalism" in the party. The style in which he celebrated his birthday recently was an illustration of his ways of functioning, they said.