Stalin, who is also the leader of the opposition in the assembly, in his representation to governor C Vidayasagar Rao said the motion of confidence moved by Chief Minister Palaniswami was adopted in the absence of the entire opposition on Saturday.
Stalin requested Rao to invoke his constitutional powers “to nullify the entire proceedings with a view to protect the spirit of democracy and the constitution”.
Stalin said extraordinary police presence was mobilised, giving an impression of a “war-like situation” around the assembly complex and a “thick atmosphere of terror” was prevailing.
According to Stalin, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) legislators belonging to the V K Sasikala camp who were kept as hostages for some days in a beach resort were brought to the assembly “under tight security and they appeared to be under constant threat”.
Stalin said the speaker of the house P Dhanapal did not respond to his request for a secret ballot on the confidence motion.
According to the DMK leader, the party legislators had no other way to register their protest and resorted to peaceful sit-in inside the house.
“The speaker ordered expulsion of all the members of the DMK, without following the procedure laid down. The police entered the house presumably on instructions given in advance by the Speaker.
“The police and the assembly guards forcibly evicted us from the house and in this process, many of us sustained injuries. The other opposition parties staged a walk-out, strongly protesting against the action of the speaker,” Stalin told Rao.
Earlier experts said inaction on the part of former chief minister O Panneerselvam in carrying out some acts that would have aroused public support and also attracted legislators from opposite camp were the main reasons for him to lose the plot.
“The plot was lost by Panneerselvam. He was not able to attract more than 10 legislators (excluding himself) to his camp. He was not able to infuse confidence to back him in the legislators in the opposite camp,” professor of political science at the University of Madras Ramu Manivannan said.
