Vijay, MLAs take oath in assembly

Chennai: A day after chief minister C Joseph Vijay was sworn in chief minister, all the 234 MLAs, including Vijay, took oath as MLAs on Monday.While Vijay, leader of opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin, AIADMk general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, former chief minister O Panneerselvam and TVK leaders took oath in the assembly, a few MLAs including former AIADMK minister C Ve Shanmugam took oath in the chamber of pro - tem speaker M V Karuppiah. Vijay who attended the session in a suit, similar to the one he wore during his wearing in as CM on Sunday, was the first to take oath. If he swore on God a day back, he took oath by his conscience. Udhayanidhi and EPS were the next to take oath. TVK ministers N Anand, Aadhav Arjuna, Arun Raj, K A Sengottaiyan and other MLAs followed suit. Several MLAs were first timers, including DMDK general secretary Premallatha Vijayakant and AIADMK's Leema Rose Martin. After taking oath Premallatha stepped towards Vijay, who was seated in the front row and greeted him. Vijay rose from the seat and greeted her back. Leema on the other hand, greeted her son - in - law Aadhav Arjuna. Udhayanidhi Stalin chose not to greet Vijay and so did many DMK MLAs including Senthil Balaji. The swearing-in ceremony, which went for more than four hours, witnessed a wide range of scenes, from MLAs raising slogans to MLAs breaking down in remembrance of their leaders. Two MDMK MLAs from Kadaiyanallur and Sirkazhi ssembly constituency, wearing the signature black and red towel of their party general secretary Vaiko, raised slogans in favour of social justice and Tamil Nadu. Some DMK MLAs raised slogans praising former chief minister M K Stalin and Udhayanidhi Stalin.AIADMK MLA from Panruti constituency K Mohan broke down on seeing the portrait of former CM Jayalalithaa in ssembly after taking oath. Similarly, TVK MLA from Tiruppur North V Sathyabama too paid respect to Jayalalithaa before swearing-in as MLA.Three daughters of PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss were present in the house to witness their mother Sowmiya Anbumani taking oath as MLA. Sowmiya's father and former TNCC president M Krishnasamy told reporters outside the assembly that though he was from rival alliance, he came there as a father to see his daughter as MLA.