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AIADMK announces Palaniswami as leader of opposition

AIADMK deferred a meeting last weekend after it failed to arrive at a decision

palaniswami campaign pti (File) Edappadi K. Palaniswami (left) campaigning in Trichy | PTI

The AIADMK announced on Twitter on Monday that former chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami had been elected leader of the opposition in the state Assembly.

"Party co-coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami has been elected leader of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Assembly," the party handle tweeted after a nearly three-hour-long meeting of its MLAs.

The AIADMK had deferred a meeting of its MLAs last weekend after it failed to arrive at a decision whether Palaniswami, or his former deputy, O. Panneerselvam, should be leader of the opposition.

The meeting last weekend, apparently, saw sparks flying between the factions of Palaniswami and Panneerselvam over the causes of the AIADMK alliance's drubbing in the state polls.

"In the meeting, sources said OPS (Panneerselvam) and his faction of MLAs had claimed that some of the pre-poll decisions of EPS (Palaniswami) like announcing the 10.5 [per cent] reservation to the Vanniyar Community, urging the Centre to bring seven sub-sects of the DevendraKula Vellalar community under one group backfired [for] the party in the polls. In reply, EPS and his supporters have claimed that the party has won more seats in the Western Region due to their efforts and the loss was due to the ineffectiveness of functionaries in other regions managed by OPS," The Indian Express reported.

The announcement of Palaniswami as leader of opposition shows the two sides have kept their truce.

Palaniswami, chief minister between 2017 and 2021, had led his party's campaign across Tamil Nadu in the recent polls. In the 2006 Assembly polls, when AIADMK lost power, Panneerselvam was the leader of opposition for a very short period and then, party supremo Jayalalithaa took the position. Panneerselvam later functioned as deputy leader.

An MLA of the main opposition party, after his or her election as leader of the legislature party, would be designated leader of the opposition in the House.

(With PTI inputs)

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