Chennai,  Former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (OPS), who was expelled from the AIADMK during the party general council meeting on July 11, has now been removed from the post of deputy legislative party leader in the Tamil Nadu Assembly.

R.G. Udhayakumar, who is a former minister and a close confidant of Edappadi K. Palaniswami, replaces Panneerselvam as the deputy leader of the legislative party which makes him the deputy leader of opposition in the Assembly.

The AIADMK legislative party under the chairmanship of leader of legislative party Palaniswami took the decision on Sunday and a statement was issued by Palaniswami on Tuesday about this.

Udhayakumar like OPS belongs to the Thevar community. The deputy secretary of the legislative party Manoj Pandian, who is a confidant of OPS, has also been removed from the post. He is replaced by Agri. S.S. Krishnamurthy, a legislator from Polur.

Notably, Panneerselvam has already submitted a representation to the Assembly Speaker M. Appavu not to disturb the composition of the AIADMK in the legislative party on the basis of any communication he might receive from anyone.

OPS, according to his close insiders, is expecting positive support from the Election Commission of India and several court cases are pending hearing against the expulsion of OPS.