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The Tamil Nadu Assembly's brief session began here on Monday and Leader of Opposition and All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam interim chief Edappadi K Palaniswami abstained on the opening day, while O Panneerselvam, heading the rival faction took part in House proceedings.
Panneerselvam's seat in the House, next to EPS remained unchanged amid expectations on possible changes in the seating arrangement in view of OPS's expulsion from the AIADMK. Palaniswami's camp had demanded that RB Udhayakumar be made the deputy leader, replacing OPS.
Assembly Speaker M Appavu said leaders of the two AIADMK factions submitted him 6 letters, including 4 from Palaniswami, asking for separate seating arrangement in the Assembly for their respective members.
He would respond to the issue if raised in the Assembly, he said. Panneerselvam, who is a former Chief Minister, told reporters outside the House that he attended the session to fulfill his democratic duty.
OPS's supporters R Vaithilingam, P H Manoj Pandian and P Ayyappan, occupied the seats provided to them in the past.
After the AIADMK lost to the DMK in the Assembly elections last year, EPS and OPS, both former Chief Ministers have been sharing the two-seater chair facing Chief Minister M K Stalin and the treasury benches.
"It is dangerous and unacceptable to alter the bylaws of the AIADMK founded by revolutionary leader M G Ramachandran," Panneerselvam said responding to a question on Palaniswami's decision to usher in single leadership in the party by reviving the post of general secretary held by late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
"I view it positively that the legislature has recognised us," Panneerselvam replied when pointed out that his seating arrangement has not been changed.
The Palaniswami faction, with the backing of majority of AIADMK legislators, had sought the Speaker to derecognise Panneerselvam and allot his seat to Udayakumar who has been appointed as the deputy floor leader replacing OPS.
The three-day session, concluding on October 19, would discuss about Hindi imposition on Tamil Nadu, Appavu said.
"Reports of Justice Arumugasamy Commission which probed former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's death, and Justice Aruna Jagadeesan Commission that probed the Thoothukudi police firing incident that claimed 13 lives during the anti-Sterlite copper smelter plant protest, would be tabled in the Assembly, he said.
Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan would present the supplementary estimates to the Budget during the session, the Speaker said.
On Monday, the Assembly made obituary references to the demise of 10 former MLAs, former assembly Speaker Sedapatti Muthiah, former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Queen Elizabeth II. A condolence resolution was passed.