Edappadi K. Palaniswami

Edapaddi Karuppa Gounder Palaniswami (born as Karuppa Gounder Palanisamy on 12 May 1954), popularly known as E.P.S. or Edappadiyar is an Indian politician and current leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.He is the 7th and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, serving from 2017 to 2021. He is the joint coordinator of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. He has represented Edappadi since 2011 as Member of the Legislative Assembly, previously serving from 1989-1996.
In the 1998 Indian general election he was elected as Member of Parliament of the Lok Sabha representing Tiruchengode. 
When the AIADMK won the 2011 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, he was given a ministerial berth by J.Jayalalithaa and served as the Minister of Highways and Minor Ports since 16 May 2011 for the government of Tamil Nadu. After 2016 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election victory, he was given the additional responsibility of Ministry of Public Works by J. Jayalalithaa. He later went on to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu on 16 February 2017 and remained in that position until May 6, 2021.
Personal life.
Edappadi Karuppa Palaniswami was born on 12 May 1954 to Karuppa Gounder and Thavasiyammal at Siluvampalayam, Salem, Madras State, India (now in Tamil Nadu, India). His parents were farmers. After completing school, he enrolled for B.Sc degree in Sri Vasavi College but did not graduate.He was the students union leader at college. He has a brother Govindraj and a sister Ranjitham. He is married to Ratha Palaniswami and has one son and is an agriculturalist by occupation.
Political career.
Palaniswami entered politics as a volunteer for the AIADMK in 1974. Later he became the key member of the party in Salem district. He was first elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly in 1989,representing Edappadi constituency, and won re-election in 1991. He was elected Member of Parliament, representing Tiruchengodu constituency in the 12th Lok Sabha. He emerged a dominant force in the AIADMK in the Western belt during late 1990s . He was elected from Edappadi constituency in 2011 and 2016 when the AIAMDK emerged as a ruling party. He slowly gained prominence as one of the strong confidants of J.Jayalalithaa along with O. Paneerselvam and Dindigul C.Sreenivasan. He served as the Minister of Highways and Minor Ports in the J. Jayalalithaa, O. Panneerselvam and in his own ministry from 2011.
Chief Minister, 2017-2021.
Palaniswami was selected by the AIADMK as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in February 2017, following the resignation of O. Panneerselvam, who became chief minister after the demise of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa who won the 2016 Legislative Assembly election as CM candidate of AIADMK. He was announced as the Chief Minister by V. K. Sasikala and was sworn in on 16 February 2017 before a crowd of party workers, along with his 32-member cabinet. Palaniswami also holds the charge of Home, Prohibition & Excise Departments along with the other portfolios normally held by the Chief Ministers, and not mentioned elsewhere. He is elected from Edappadi constituency. During his reign, he introduced various schemes like Kudimaramaththu Work, FAME India scheme and Amma Patrol in Tamil Nadu to ascertain the security of women and children in public places.
In May 2018, police opened fire on protests against a Sterilite plant that was polluting local groundwater in Thoothukudi, killing 13 people. While ordering a one-man commission into the violence, Palaniswami also declared the shootings were in "self-defence." On May 28, Palaniswami led Tamil Nadu Government ordered the permanently closure of the sterlite copper plant. “The Amma government has issued an order to have the Sterlite plant closed down permanently in deference to the sentiments of the people of Thoothukudi,” then Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami told journalists in the evening after chairing a meeting of his party legislators at the AIADMK headquarters in Chennai.
In 2019 he went on a 13-day tour in the United States, United Kingdom and United Arab Emirates to promote foreign investment in Tamil Nadu. While there he launched the "Yaadhum Oore" programme (lit. all countries, based on "Puranauru" 192) to encourage the Tamil diaspora to re-invest in Tamil Nadu, in the same line as other states with large NRI populations such as Kerala. During trip he secured 3 lakh crores worth of foreign investment, a greater amount than even his predecessor Jayalalithaa did.
However, during the 2019 elections, AIADMK contested in alliance with the BJP and was swept out of parliament when the DMK-led alliance won 38 out of 39 seats in the state.
In February 2020, Palaniswami led Tamil Nadu government declared the Cauvery delta region as a Protected Special Agriculture Zone. The announcement was widely hailed by political parties and farmers organisations.
Under his governance, Tamilnadu was rated as the best governed state based on a composite index in the context of sustainable development according to the Public Affairs Index-2020 released by the Public Affairs Centre in Oct 2020. Palaniswami is also praised for his administration during the coronavirus pandemic.
On 3 May 2021, Palaniswami resigned as Chief Minister following AIADMK's defeat in the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly Election.
Leader of the Opposition, 2021.
After the party lost the assembly elections in May 2021, Palaniswami won the Edappadi constituency and was elected as the Leader Of the Opposition in Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.