Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister and AIADMK Coordinator O Panneerselvam was today appointed as the Leader of the House in Tamil Nadu Assembly, replacing School Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan. The appointment comes days ahead of the January 8 session of the assembly, which will start with the customary Governor’s address.

A brief statement from K Boopathy, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (TNLA), said Panneerselvam has been appointed as the Leader of the House.

Sengottaiyan, also a veteran AIADMK leader, was appointed as Leader of the House in February 2017 following a split in the ruling party spurred by a rebellion by Panneerselvam against the then party chief Sasikala, now undergoing a prison term in a corruption case.

Panneerselvam had then alleged he was forced to make way for her elevation as chief minister months after the demise of his predecessor and former AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa. However, days after Sasikala staked claim to be sworn in as chief minister, the Supreme Court on February 14 convicted her in the disproportionate assets case following which K Palaniswami was picked by her to head the AIADMK government.

Later, Palaniswami also revolted against Sasikala and her family and the factions led by him and Panneerselvam merged in August last year.

The assembly will meet for the first time next week following the disqualification of 18 AIADMK MLAs supporting sidelined party leader TTV Dhinakaran, who will be making his debut as a member of the house during the session. He had won the December 21 RK Nagar bypoll, held due to the demise of Jayalalithaa who represented the city segment, defeating ruling AIADMK’s E Madhusudhanan by a margin of 40,000 votes.

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