Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court seeking a direction to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly secretary and Speaker M. Appavu to recognise R.B. Udhayakumar as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and ‘Agri’ S.S. Krishnamurthy as the deputy secretary of AIADMK Legislature Party.
The petitioner told the court that AIADMK entered the Legislative Assembly with 66 members after the 2021 elections. It was the second largest legislature party after the ruling DMK. On May 10, 2021, the AIADMK legislature party elected the petitioner as its leader and O. Panneerselvam (now expelled from primary membership of the party) as its deputy leader.
Former Minister S.P. Velumani was elected as the whip and S. Ravi as deputy whip. K.P. Anbalagan and P.H. Manoj Pandian (also expelled from the party subsequently) were elected as secretary and deputy secretary respectively of the AIADMK legislature party. However, on July 11, 2022, the AIADMK general council took certain major decisions.
