CHENNAI: On a surprising note, the faction of former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, having the most number of AIADMK MLAs in their side, boycotted the day one of the Tamil Nadu Assembly session, on Monday.

Their rival faction headed by another former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam was present in the Assembly with four MLAs, including Panneerselvam and his three supporters PH Manoj Pandian, R Vaithilingam and P Ayyappan(Usilampatti MLA), who recently joined the OPS faction.

The EPS faction was upset at the decision of Speaker M Appavu who refused to shift Panneerselvam from his original seat, which is right next to Palaniswami.

In fact, Palaniswami and Panneerselvam share a common two-seated chair. The seating is based on their party positions which are the leader of opposition and the deputy leader of opposition.

Though Palaniswami, on more than a couple of occasions, submitted letters to the Speaker to shift Panneerselvam, Appavu did not take any action. Palaniswami, who was upset at the decision of the Speaker, held a discussion with his supporters on Sunday and decided to boycott the session.

As announced earlier, the day one of the Assembly session witnessed obituary references for 10 former members of the state Assembly and passing condolence resolutions for major leaders including Queen Elizabeth-II.

The day one of the Assembly session ended within 12 minutes and is set to resume on Tuesday with Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan set to submit a supplementary Budget in the House.

After the session, Panneerselvam, while addressing the media, said that they received communication from Assembly Speaker M Appavu following which they came to “fulfill their democratic duties”. When asked about his participation in the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) meeting, he replied that he will fully abide by the decisions taken in the BAC meeting.

When asked whether Palaniswami is reluctant to sit by his side in the Assembly, Panneerselvam replied that the question should be directed at Palaniswami and not at him.

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