TN Assembly elects Speaker, Dy Speaker

Chennai, May 19: Lawyer-turned-politicians R Aavudiappan and V P Duraisamy have been declared as Speaker and Deputy Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly today.

When the House met at 0900 hrs today, Pro-term Speaker D Sudarsanam declared the election of Mr Aavudiappan as the Speaker, saying he was the only contestant for the post.

After the announcement, the member from Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli District was led to the Chair by Leader of the House and Finance Minister K Anbazhagan and Leader of the Opposition O Panneerselvam.

After assuming the Chair, Mr Avudaiappan declared the election of V P Doraisamy as the Deputy Speaker saying he was the only nominee for the post. Both were delcared elected unopposed.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and Leaders of various parties, including Mr O Panneerselvam (AIADMK), Mr D Sudarsanam (Cong), Mr G K Mani (PMK), Mr Govindasamy (CPI(M)), Mr Sivapunnyam (CPI) and Mr Vijayakanth (DMDK) congratulated the Speaker and his deputy.

The Speaker and the Deputy Speaker thanked the members for electing them. The Houe was later adjourned to May 24 for the Governor's address.

Sixty-one-year-old Mr Avidaiyappan had school and college education at Tirunelveli and studied law at the Madras Law College. He enrolled himself as a lawyer, practising on the criminal side and became the junior of Mr Chellapandian. A senior leader in the DMK, he took a plunge into politics during his college days in 1969. He has been the DMK Tirunvelveli District Secretary since 1993.

He also served as Chairman of Tirunvelveli Central Cooperative Bank and Deputy Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Cooperative Bank.

Mr Doraisamy, who joined the DMK after quitting the AIADMK, was elected to the Assembly in 1989. He was a member of the Rajya Sabha during 1995-2001. He was again elected to the State Assembly in the May eight Assembly polls.

He attended the Commonwealth conference held in South Africa in 1990 when he was the Deputy Speaker during the 1989-91 DMK regime.

Mr Doraisamy read law at the Madras Law College between 1979-82 and was practicising as a civil lawyer in Namakkal.

Mr Doraisamy was known for his sense of humour while conducting the proceedings whenever he was in the chair.

UNI