CHENNAI: After a three-hour-long discussion held at the AIADMK headquarters here, former Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has been elected as the AIADMK legislature party leader. He will eventually become the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.
An AIADMK release here said Palaniswami has been elected unanimously by the new MLAs. However, perhaps for the first time, the leader of the AIADMK legislature party has been announced after much opposition within the party and after prolonged discussions. The first meeting of the AIADMK legislature party ended without electing the leader on May 7.
The party is yet to announce its deputy leader and Whip in the State Assembly.
Senior leaders of the AIADMK - KA Sengottaiyan, Dindigul C Sreenivasan, KP Munusamy, P Thangamani, SP Velumani, R Kamaraj, Sellur K Raju, KP Anbazhagan and others rushed to the Assembly secretariat and handed over a letter to Assembly Secretary K Srinivasan informing about the election of Edappadi K Palaniswami as the AIADMK legislature party leader.
Earlier, there were hectic parleys within the AIADMK MLAs meeting. At one point of time, party coordinator Panneerselvam was said to have proposed the name of former Speaker P Dhanapal as leader of the legislature party.