P. Dhanapal (born 16 May 1951) is an Indian politician and incumbent Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He is a former Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.

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Quick Facts 13th Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, Deputy ...

P. Dhanapal
13th Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
In office 10 October 2012 – 6 May 2021
Deputy	Pollachi V. Jayaraman
Preceded by	D. Jayakumar
Succeeded by	M. Appavu
Constituency	Avanashi (2016-2021) Rasipuram (2011–2016)
Deputy Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly
In office 27 May 2011 – 9 October 2012
Preceded by	V. P. Duraisamy
Succeeded by	Pollachi V. Jayaraman
Constituency	Rasipuram
Minister for Food and Co-operation
In office 22 May 2001 – 9 November 2002
Chief Minister	J.Jayalalithaa O. Panneerselvam
Preceded by	Natham R. Viswanathan
Succeeded by	P. Mohan
Minister for Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare
In office 14 May 2001 – 22 May 2001
Chief Minister	J.Jayalalithaa
Preceded by	S. Selvaraj
Succeeded by	V. Subramanian
Member of the Legislative Assembly
Incumbent
Assumed office 2016
Constituency	Avanashi
In office 2011–2016
Constituency	Rasipuram
In office 2001–2006
Constituency	Sankagiri
In office 1977–1988
Constituency	Sankagiri
Personal details
Born	16 May 1951 Karuppur, Salem district, Tamil Nadu
Political party	AIADMK

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P. Dhanapal was born on 16 May 1951 in Karupur. He obtained a master's degree and is married with two children.^[1]

Dhanapal was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly as an All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate from Sankagiri constituency in the 1977, 1980 and 1984 and 2001 elections.^[2][3][4][5] In the 2011 and 2016 Tamil Nadu assembly elections he won from Rasipuram^[6] and Avanashi constituencies, respectively.^[7]

• Maamannan (2023) by Mari Selvaraj is partly based on his real life story. Actor Vadivelu played Maamannan (Dhanapal).^[8][9]