TN Assembly: Appavu, Pitchandi to be Speaker and Dy Speaker

CHENNAI: A total of 223 newly-elected legislators took oath of office in the State Assembly on Tuesday. Senior members M Appavu and K Pitchandi of DMK were elected unopposed as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.

Pro-tem Speaker Pitchandi will make a formal announcement about the election of M Appavu as the Speaker of the House, since no more nominations have been received for both the posts.  The State Assembly convened on Tuesday to enable the newly-elected members to take oath under the chair of the pro-term speaker K Pitchandi. 

223 MLAs assume charge in Tamil Nadu Assembly

The Speaker called the members in the order of Chief Minister, ministers, leader of the Opposition, former Speaker, former Deputy Speaker, former Chief Minister, former ministers and other members in the Tamil alphabetical order. On the prescribed order, Chief Minister MK Stalin was the first to take the oath. Following him, other ministers, beginning with the senior legislator and Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan took the oath.

In the Opposition line, former Chief Minister and leader of principal Opposition party Edappadi K Palaniswami, GK Mani of PMK, and Nainar Nagendran of BJP took the oath. While Stalin, his Cabinet colleagues, and other DMK MLAs made a solemn affirmation, most of the AIADMK members including Leader of Opposition Palaniswami and former Deputy CM O Panneerselvam took oath in the name of God.

While the 223 MLAs took oath from 10.05 am to 2.10 pm, the pro-term speaker of the Assembly, K Pitchandi, took oath in the presence of the Governor of the State at Raj Bhavan on Monday. Earlier in the day, when Chief Minister MK Stalin proposed the nominations of Appavu and Pitchandi, Minister for Water Resources Durai Murugan seconded it. On Wednesday, Chief Minister MK Stalin and the Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami will lead Appavu to his chair in the Assembly.

‘Stick to the text’
Though the pro-term speaker K Pitchandi requested the MLAs not to utter any extra words beyond the prescribed text while taking oath, Thiruporur VCK MLA SS Balaji hailed BR Ambedkar and Thol Thirumavalavan when he took the oath and Thiruvarur DMK MLA Poondi Kalaivanan hailed former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi. On their line, Coimbatore (south) BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan said ‘Tamil Vazhga’ (Long live Tamil) and ‘Vande Madharam’ when she took the oath.

The oath-taking started with DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin and ended with DMK MLA S Stalin Kumar. Following the outbreak of the virus last year, the Assembly sessions are held in the newly constructed government auditorium, Kalaivanar Arangam. Meanwhile, CM MK Stalin, in a press statement, has congratulated the members of the House for getting elected to the Assembly and appealed that they should extend their cooperation to control the spread of Covid-19 in the State since they have the responsibility to protect the people of the State beyond the party lines.

He requested the members of the House to bring to his notice if there is a lack of availability of beds, oxygen, medicine, etc., in their Assembly constituencies to control the spread of the pandemic and assured that the state government will take immediate steps to address the issue. He further urged, “Let us work together to retrieve the State from the Corona disaster. Apart from the ruling party, the alliance and opposition parties should also work as peoples’ representative. We will stand together to return the normal life of the people of TN at the earliest”, he stressed. On Wednesday, the election for the Speaker of the Assembly and the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly would take place.

Missing in action

From DMK’s side

• SS Sivashankar, Minister for Backward Class Welfare
• M Mathivendhan, Minister for Tourism
• AG Venkatachalam of Anthiyur
• Gandhirajan of Vedasandur
• Shanmugaiyah of Ottapidaram
• Varalakshmi of Chengalpattu

From AIADMK’s side

• Esaikki Subbaiah of Ambasamudram
• Vijaya Baskar of Viralimalai
• Vaithilingam of Orathanadu
• Kadambur C Raju of Kovilpatti

The MLAs who did not take oath on Tuesday are expected to fulfil their duty at the Speaker’s chamber in the days to come