List of leaders of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly

The leader of the opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly is an elected member of the Legislative Assembly who leads the official opposition party in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The leader of the opposition serves as the legislative leader for the largest political party in the assembly that is not part of the government, provided that this political party holds at least 10% of the seats.

Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Tamiḻnāṭu Caṭṭamaṉṟa Etirkkaṭcit Talaivar
Emblem of Tamil Nadu
Incumbent Edappadi K. Palaniswami since 11 May 2021
Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Appointer	Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
Inaugural holder	T. Nagi Reddy
Formation	6 May 1952; 73 years ago (1952-05-06)
Website	www.assembly.tn.gov.in

Since 1952, the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly has had 18 leaders of the opposition. The longest-serving leader of the opposition J. Jayalalithaa from All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam became the legislative assembly's first and, to date, only female leader of the opposition. She was the first actress to become the leader of the opposition in the state's legislative assembly in India, while Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam's founder Vijayakant is the second actor to become the leader of the opposition in the state's legislative assembly in India. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's former president M. Karunanidhi has the second-longest tenure, having held the office for 5 years and 259 days, and S. Balakrishnan from the Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar) has the third-longest tenure, having held the office for 4 years and 356 days.

The current incumbent has been Edappadi K. Palaniswami of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam since 11 May 2021.^[1]

List

Key

• ^RES Resigned
• ^† Died in office
• ^§ Returned to office after a previous non-consecutive term

Legend

•   Independent
•   Communist Party of India
•   Indian National Congress
•   Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
•   Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)
•   Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam
•   All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected constituency	Term of office[2]			Assembly (Election)	Appointed by	Political party
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		T. Nagi Reddy (1917–1976)	Anantapur	6 May 1952	1 October 1953[RES]	1 year, 148 days	1st (1952)	J. Shivashanmugam	Communist Party of India
2		P. Ramamurthi (1908–1987)	Madurai North	14 December 1953	31 March 1957	3 years, 107 days
3		V. K. Ramaswami (1901–1984)	Uthiramerur	29 April 1957	18 March 1962	4 years, 323 days	2nd (1957)	U. Krishna Rao	Independent
4		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (1920–2000)	Triplicane	29 March 1962	28 February 1967	4 years, 336 days	3rd (1962)	S. Chellapandian	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
5		P. G. Karuthiruman (1919–1977)	Sathyamangalam	15 March 1967	5 January 1971	3 years, 296 days	4th (1967)	S. P. Adithanar	Indian National Congress
–	Vacant		N/A	22 March 1971	31 January 1976	4 years, 315 days	5th (1971)	No official opposition[a]
6		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)	Anna Nagar	25 July 1977	17 February 1980	5 years, 259 days	6th (1977)	Munu Adhi	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
				27 June 1980	18 August 1983[RES]		7th (1980)	K. Rajaram
7		K. S. G. Haja Shareef (1915–1999)	Triplicane	29 August 1983	15 November 1984	1 year, 78 days			Indian National Congress
8		O. Subramanian (1921–2000)	Sivaganga	27 February 1985	30 January 1988	2 years, 337 days	8th (1984)	P. H. Pandian
9		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	Bodinayakkanur	9 February 1989	1 December 1989[RES]	295 days	9th (1989)	M. Tamilkudimagan	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
10		S. R. Eradha (1934–2020)	Madurai East	1 December 1989	19 January 1991[RES]	1 year, 49 days
11		G. K. Moopanar (1931–2001)	Papanasam	19 January 1991	30 January 1991	11 days			Indian National Congress
12		S. R. Balasubramoniyan (b. 1938)	Pongalur	3 July 1991	13 May 1996	4 years, 315 days	10th (1991)	Sedapatti R. Muthiah
13		S. Balakrishnan (1936–2006)	Mudukulathur	23 May 1996	14 May 2001	4 years, 356 days	11th (1996)	P. T. R. Palanivel Rajan	Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)
14		K. Anbazhagan (1922–2020)	Harbour	24 May 2001	14 April 2006	4 years, 325 days	12th (2001)	K. Kalimuthu	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
15		O. Panneerselvam (b. 1951)	Periyakulam	19 May 2006	28 May 2006[RES]	9 days	13th (2006)	R. Avudaiyappan	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
(9)		J. Jayalalithaa (1948–2016)	Andipatti	29 May 2006[§]	14 May 2011	4 years, 350 days
16		Vijayakant (1952–2023)	Rishivandiyam	27 May 2011	21 February 2016	4 years, 270 days	14th (2011)	D. Jayakumar	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam
–	Vacant		N/A	22 February 2016	21 May 2016	89 days		No official opposition[b]
17		M. K. Stalin (b. 1953)	Kolathur	4 June 2016	3 May 2021	4 years, 333 days	15th (2016)	P. Dhanapal	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
18		Edappadi K. Palaniswami (b. 1954)	Edappadi	11 May 2021	Incumbent	4 years, 43 days	16th (2021)	M. Appavu	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam

Timeline

Statistics

List of leaders of the opposition by length of term

No.	Name	Party		Length of term
				Longest continuous term	Total years of opposition-ship
1	J. Jayalalithaa	AIADMK		4 years, 350 days	5 years, 280 days
2	M. Karunanidhi	DMK		5 years, 259 days	5 years, 259 days
3	S. Balakrishnan	TMC(M)		4 years, 356 days	4 years, 356 days
4	V. R. Nedunchezhiyan	DMK		4 years, 336 days	4 years, 336 days
5	M. K. Stalin	DMK		4 years, 333 days	4 years, 333 days
6	K. Anbazhagan	DMK		4 years, 325 days	4 years, 325 days
7	V. K. Ramaswami	IND		4 years, 323 days	4 years, 323 days
8	S. R. Balasubramoniyan	INC		4 years, 315 days	4 years, 315 days
9	Vijayakant	DMDK		4 years, 270 days	4 years, 270 days
10	Edappadi K. Palaniswami	AIADMK		4 years, 43 days	4 years, 43 days
11	P. G. Karuthiruman	INC		3 years, 296 days	3 years, 296 days
12	P. Ramamurthi	CPI		3 years, 107 days	3 years, 107 days
13	O. Subramanian	INC		2 years, 337 days	2 years, 337 days
14	T. Nagi Reddy	CPI		1 year, 148 days	1 year, 148 days
15	K. S. G. Haja Shareef	INC		1 year, 78 days	1 year, 78 days
16	S. R. Eradha	AIADMK		1 year, 49 days	1 year, 49 days
17	G. K. Moopanar	INC		11 days	11 days
18	O. Panneerselvam	AIADMK		9 days	9 days

List by party

Political parties by total time-span of their member holding LOPO (23 June 2025)

No.	Political party	Number of leaders of the opposition	Total days of holding LOPO
1	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	4	7461 days
2	Indian National Congress	5	4948 days
3	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam	4	4034 days
4	Tamil Maanila Congress (Moopanar)	1	1817 days
5	Communist Party of India	2	1790 days
6	Independent	1	1784 days
7	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam	1	1731 days

Parties by total duration (in days) of holding Leader of the Opposition's Office

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

8,000

DMK

INC

AIADMK

TMC(M)

CPI

IND

DMDK

•   DMK
•   INC
•   AIADMK
•   TMC(M)
•   CPI
•   IND
•   DMDK

List of deputy leaders of the opposition

No.	Portrait	Name (Birth–Death)	Elected constituency	Term of office			Assembly (Election)	Appointed by	Political party		Leader of the Opposition
				Assumed office	Left office	Time in office
1		M. Karunanidhi (1924–2018)	Thanjavur	29 March 1962	28 February 1967	4 years, 336 days	3rd (1962)	S. Chellapandian	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		V. R. Nedunchezhiyan
2		K. Anbazhagan (1922–2020)	Purasawalkam	25 July 1977	17 February 1980	5 years, 259 days	6th (1977)	Munu Adhi			M. Karunanidhi
				27 June 1980	18 August 1983[RES]		7th (1980)	K. Rajaram
3		Su. Thirunavukkarasar (b. 1949)	Aranthangi	9 February 1989	23 July 1990	1 year, 164 days	9th (1989)	M. Tamilkudimagan	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		J. Jayalalithaa S. R. Eradha
4		K. A. Sengottaiyan (b. 1948)	Gobichettipalayam	23 June 1990	19 January 1991	180 days					S. R. Eradha
5		Duraimurugan (b. 1938)	Katpadi	24 May 2001	14 April 2006	4 years, 325 days	12th (2001)	K. Kalimuthu	Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		K. Anbazhagan
(4)		K. A. Sengottaiyan (b. 1948)	Gobichettipalayam	19 May 2006	28 May 2006	9 days	13th (2006)	R. Avudaiappan	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		O. Panneerselvam
6		O. Panneerselvam (b. 1951)	Periyakulam	29 May 2006	14 May 2011	4 years, 350 days					J. Jayalalithaa
7		Panruti S. Ramachandran (b. 1937)	Alandur	27 May 2011	10 December 2013	2 years, 197 days	14th (2011)	D. Jayakumar	Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam		Vijayakant
8		Alagaapuram R. Mohanraj (b. 1954)	Salem North	31 January 2014	21 February 2016	2 years, 21 days		P. Dhanapal
(5)		Duraimurugan (b. 1938)	Katpadi	4 June 2016	3 May 2021	4 years, 333 days	15th (2016)		Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		M. K. Stalin
(6)		O. Panneerselvam (b. 1951)	Bodinayakanur	14 June 2021	11 July 2022	1 year, 27 days	16th (2021)	M. Appavu	All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam		Edappadi K. Palaniswami
9		R. B. Udhayakumar (b. 1973)	Thirumangalam	19 July 2022	Incumbent	2 years, 339 days

See also

• History of Tamil Nadu
• Politics of Tamil Nadu
• Elections in Tamil Nadu
• Governor of Tamil Nadu
• Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
• Chief Secretariat of Tamil Nadu
• Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
• Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
• List of current Indian opposition leaders
• Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
• List of leaders of the house in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly

Notes

1. No official opposition because no political party obtained at least 10% of the seats in the following assembly election
2. No official opposition because no political party obtained at least 10% of the seats in the assembly