CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has moved a petition in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Assembly speaker to approve the appointment of RB Udhayakumar as the deputy leader of the opposition.
He said that OPS was removed from the position of deputy leader of the opposition after he was expelled from the party at its general council meeting on July 11, 2022, along with MLAs Manoj Pandian and Vaithilingam.
Subsequently, Udhayakumar was elected as the deputy leader of the Edappadi K Palaniswami opposition and ‘Agri’ Krishnamurthy as deputy secretary of the AIADMK, Palaniswami said, adding that the speaker has not approved these appointments despite sending him reminders, after formal information. The request for reshuffling the seating arrangements for the AIAMDK members was also not heeded by the speaker, EPS said in the petition.
He also said the current seating arrangements, under which, OPS and his two supporters are sitting among the AIADMK bloc, affect the effective functioning of the legislature party as they also intervene during debates.