Jaya nominates Speaker, Dy Speaker posts, expands ministry
Synopsis
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa yesterday nominated P Dhanapal and Pollachi V Jayaraman for the posts of Speaker and Deputy Speaker of Tamil Nadu Assembly, elections for which are scheduled on June 3.
Jayalalithaa announced the candidature of the two MLAs in a statement, and the two are expected to be elected to the respective posts, given the comfortable majority the AIADMK has in the House.
Dhanapal was the Speaker of the previous Assembly while Jayaraman was his Deputy. Elections to the key posts are scheduled on June 3.
Meanwhile, an official release from the Assembly Secretariat said Finance Minister O Panneerselvam has been appointed Leader of the House. S Rajendran (Ariyalur) will be the Chief Government whip.
AIADMK has 133 MLAs in the 234-member Assembly with three vacancies. Elections to Thanjavur and Aravakurichi constituencies have been deferred by the Election Commission due to electoral malpractices while AIADMK's S M Seenivel, elected to Assembly from Tirupparankundram in the May 16 polls, died this morning before taking oath as MLA.
The four-day-old Jayalalithaa Ministry in Tamil Nadu yesterday also expanded with the induction of four AIADMK MLAs, taking its strength to 33.
G Baskaran (Sivaganga), Sevvoor R Ramachandran (Arani), Nilofer Kabil (Vaniyambadi) and P Balakrishna Reddy (Hosur) were sworn in at the Raj Bhavan here.
Governor K Rosaiah administered them the oath of office and secrecy in the presence of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
On Monday, Jayalalithaa and 28 others were sworn-in and later in the day she announced expanding her cabinet and included four more, all new faces.
Baskaran is Minister for Khadi and Village Industries Board while Ramachandran has been allotted Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments. Kabil is Labour Minister while Reddy will be handling the Animal Husbandry portfolio.