Edappadi Palaniswamy was elected as the leader of the AIADMK legislature party in a meeting held at the party headquarters at Chennai on Monday. Though there was no official word about the mode of election, party sources said 55 out of the 66 MLAs supported Palaniswamy while O Panneerselvam could manage the support of only a handful of MLAs.
Though Panneerselvam had proposed the name of P Dhanapal, Speaker of the outgoing legislature Assembly for the post, he was shouted down. With his election as leader of the AIADMK legislature party, Palaniswamy became Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. Signals of resentment were visible immediately after the election of Palaniswamy. A grime faced Panneerselvam stormed out of the party headquarters and was seen speeding away in his swanky limousine. The look on the face of Panneerselvam gave enough indications of discontentment and Palaniswamy is in for troubles from various corners in the AIADMK.