Even as a consensus is yet to emerge within the AIADMK on who should be the leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly to take on the ruling DMK, the AIADMK spokespersons V Pughazenthi and Kovai Selvaraj have openly supported the candidature of party coordinator O Panneerselvam for the top post.
Edappadi K Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam (File Photo)
Chennai:
“Outgoing chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami was declared the party’s Chief Minister candidate for the Assembly polls by AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam and now my view is that OPS being the coordinator of the party should be allowed to head the Opposition in the Assembly,” V Pughazenthi told reporters on Thursday.
There is a section of MLAs favouring party deputy coordinator, but a lot of party old-timers want OPS as the LoP, an AIADMK MLA told DT Next. But, going by the popularity and the control in the party the chances for Palaniswami is bright and he is likely to be designated as the Leader of Opposition in the MLAs’ meeting.
The first round of MLA meeting will commence on Friday and if there is no consensus, more rounds of meetings will be held at the party headquarters, the MLA said.
This is a sensitive issue and it could not be decided in a hurry. Party heavyweights like R Vaithilingam, CVe Shanmugham, E Madhusudhanan, KP Munusamy and B Valarmathi will share their thoughts on who should be the LoP.
However, the former AIADMK ministers from the Kongu region have already reached out to maximum MLAs in favour of former chief minister Palaniswami, AIADMK party sources said.
Conversations