Chennai: The first session of the newly constituted 16th Legislative Assembly is commencing at 10 am today with the customary address by Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Kalaivanar Arangam.
In view of Covid-19, the Assembly has been meeting in a multi-purpose hall on the third floor of Kalaivanar Arangam since September last.
Speaker M Aappavu told reporters that the Business Advisory Committee meeting, comprising floor leaders of various parties, would be held after the Governor’s address to decide
on the duration of the session.
Sources said the session is likely to last for three-four days during which the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address will be adopted, with Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami winding up the debate and Chief Minister M K Stalin replying to it.
Appavu said all the MLAs–even if they took two Covid vaccine jabs–would be subjected to Covid tests.
‘Only those reporting negative in the tests will be allowed to attend the Assembly session’, he said, adding, all the media persons will also
be subjected to Covid tests ahead of the session.
The DMK has 133 MLAs and the AIADMK has 66 MLAs in the 234-member House. The Congress has 18 members, the PMK has five and the BJP and the VCK have four each. The CPI and CPI(M) have two members each.