Ten dissident MLAs resign from TN Assembly, DMDK leader Vijaykanth loses LoP status

Chennai: Ten dissident MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, including eight from the main opposition DMDK, on Sunday tendered their resignation to Speaker P Dhanapal, a move which comes ahead of the Assembly elections in the state.

“Yes. It is true. Ten of us have tendered resignation,” one of the MLAs who did not wanted to be quoted, told PTI.

The Speaker’s office could not be reached immediately.

Speaking to ANI news agency, Tamil Nadu Speaker P Dhanapal said, "DMDK leader Vijaykanth has lost the status of Leader of Opposition after resignation of 8 party legislators from Assembly."

The DMDK MLAs who tendered their resignation are – C Arun Pandian, M Arun Subramanian, K Pandiarajan, K Tamil Azhagan, S Michael Rayappan, R Sundarrajan, T Suresh Kumar and R Santhi. A Ramasamy (Puthiya Tamizhagam) and Kalai Arasu (PMK) also tendered their resignation, sources said.

While the 10 MLAs belonged to the respective opposition parties, they had in the last few years shifted their allegiance towards the ruling AIADMK.