AIADMK makes one more bid for seat change

Chennai: A team of AIADMK leaders, led by former Minister K A Sengottaiyan, called on Speaker M Appavu on Friday and handed over a letter from their general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami requesting the provision of a seat to R B Udhayakumar, who has been chosen as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, in the front row of the Assembly, next to the Leader of the Opposition.

Sengottaiyan told media persons that they had already handed over two letters to the Speaker requesting him to allot the seat next to Palaniswami to Udhayakumar after the former Deputy Leader of the Opposition, O Panneerselvam, was expelled from the party.

Though the Speaker has been maintaining that the seat allocation has been finalized and cannot be reopened for review, Sengottaiyan said that earlier the dispute between the two factions led by Palaniswami and Panneerselvam was before the courts and the Election Commission of India (ECI) with both of them claiming to be the real AIADMK.

Now that the dispute has been settled with the Supreme Court and also the ECI giving verdicts in favour of the Palaniswami group and recognizing him as the party general secretary, besides approving of all the decisions taken in their General Council meetings, the Speaker should accede to their long standing demand, Sengottaiyan said.

The delegation comprising former Minister D Jayakumar and a clutch of AIADMK MLAs demanded that the Speaker give in writing the reasons for not allotting the seat meant for Deputy Leader of the Opposition to their nominee if he were to insist on not making the change.

When asked what they would do if the Speaker refused to entertain their request, as he had been doing in the past several occasions, Sengottaiyan said that Palaniswami would decide on the future course of action based on the written reply from the Speaker.

Recalling old incidents in the House, Sengottaiyan said that Palaniswami had recognized Duraimurugan as the deputy leader and J Jayalalithaa had accorded the status to Panruti Ramachandran when he was with the DMDK.

Interestingly the Leader of the Opposition and the Deputy Leader are assigned seats in a single sofa in the front row of the opposition benches and ever since Palaniswami and Panneerselvam fell out they sit next to each other, both feeling uneasy and looking in different directions.

Even on September 20, while announcing the date for the commencement of the winter session, Appavo had said that there would be no change in seat allocation for members and that the decisions had already been taken.

Now with the AIADMK reopening the subject in the context of the Palaniswami group winning the case, it remains to be seen what the Speaker would do on the issue. It remains to be seen if he would manage to dig in his heels, as it has been his wont, or allot Panneerselvam another seat in the front row in view of his status as a former Chief Minister when the House meets on October 9.