Embalam R. Selvam was, on Wednesday, elected unopposed as Speaker of the 15th Legislative Assembly.
The first-time legislator representing Manaveli Assembly segment was elected at a special session of the Assembly. He formally assumed office after he was declared elected as Speaker by protem Speaker K. Lakshminarayanan.
Chief Minister N. Rangasamy and Opposition leader R. Siva accompanied Mr. Selvam to the Speaker’s chair.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief L. Murugan was present in the visitors’ gallery of the Assembly.
The BJP, with 6 elected legislators, got the Speaker’s post after days of parleys with its major ally AINRC having 10 seats in the National Democratic Alliance.
After the NDA won the election, AINRC founder president N. Rangasamy took over as Chief Minister on May 7.
Since then, both the parties have been engaged in a tough bargain to share the ministerial berths.
The AINRC, after much reluctance, obliged the BJP’s demand for the Speaker post but refused to allot Deputy Chief Minister post or accommodate more than two ministers.
Though BJP leaders on June 6 had announced about reaching a compromise with AINRC on cabinet formation, there had been no word from the Chief Minister on the swearing-in ceremony of his cabinet colleagues. Since then, BJP has also maintained silence on cabinet formation.