Chennai, Feb 13:
The Speaker made the announcement after CM Stalin requested him to kindly reconsider his decision on the issue; the allotment of the seat has been a long-pending demand of the AIADMK
Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu agreed to consider the AIADMK’s request to allocate the seat of Deputy Leader in the Assembly to R.B. Udhayakumar. The seat has so far been occupied by the AIADMK’s expelled coordinator, O. Panneerselvam.
The Speaker made the announcement after Chief Minister M.K. Stalin requested him to kindly reconsider his decision on the issue and to allot the seat to Udhayakumar, who has been elected as the Deputy Leader of the AIADMK Legislature Party, headed by former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
The AIADMK, led by Palaniswami had been demanding the allotment of the seat to Mr Udhayakumar instead of Mr. Panneerselvam. Until now, the Speaker had taken the stand that allotment of seats to MLAs was his prerogative and no seat was reserved for the Deputy Leader of Opposition, as the post was not a “recognised one”.
