Chennai: Ruling AIADMK's nominee P Dhanapal was on Wednesday unanimously elected as Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, the first Dalit to be elected to the post in 50 years. Pro-Tem Speaker C K Tamizharasan announced that Dhanapal was unanimously elected as he was the only candidate to have filed nomination for the election caused by the surprise resignation of D Jayakumar as Speaker recently.
Dhanapal was led to the chair by Leader of the House and Finance Minister O Panneerselvam and Deputy Leader of DMDK Legislature Party Panruti S Ramachandran, who did the honours in the absence of Leader of the Opposition and his party founder leader Vijaykant. Felicitating Dhanapal, who had resigned as Deputy Speaker to file his nomination, both opposition DMDK and DMK assured their support to him and urged for equal opportunities for the opposition to speak in the assembly.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi was among the notable absentees while members of AIADMK, which has a massive majority of 151 MLAs in the 234-member House, was present in full strength led by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
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12:06 PM, Oct 10, 2012
Chennai: With no party choosing to contest his candidature, AIADMK nominee P Dhanapal is all set to be elected as Speaker of his party dominated Tamil Nadu Assembly, election for which is scheduled on Wednesday. The Rasipuram (SC) legislator will be the first Dalit Speaker to occupy the Chair after a gap of nearly 50 years. Formerly Deputy Speaker after the AIADMK came to power last year, he will be...
01:57 PM, Oct 09, 2012
Chennai: In a surprise development, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker D Jayakumar resigned from his post on Saturday. Jayakumar, elected from Royapuram in Chennai, resigned from office with immediate effect, an official communique said. The communique did not assign any reasons. The functions of the Speaker would now be performed by Deputy Speaker P Dhanapal. Jayakumar, an advocate, became Speaker after the AIADMK led by Jayalalithaa stormed back to power in...
01:38 PM, Sep 29, 2012
