Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu yesterday demanded a trust vote in the assembly after the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam group led by jailed general secretary V K Sasikala’s nephew T T V Dinakaran withdrew support to Chief Minister K Palaniswami, reducing the government to a minority.
M K Stalin of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Pattali Makkal Katchi leader Anbumani Ramadoss urged Governor C V Rao to ask Palaniswami to prove his majority immediately after the Dinakaran group said it wanted the chief minister changed.
Speaking to a television channel after meeting the Rao, Sasikala-Dinakaran loyalist Thangathamizh Chelvan said: “We have told the governor that we will be taking steps to change Chief Minister Palaniswami.”
The Dinakaran faction has been upset over its isolation in the ruling party whose two major factions, led by Palaniswami and former chief minister O Panneerselvam, united a day earlier. The merged party also decided to sack Sasikala as general secretary.
Nineteen legislators belonging to the Dinakaran faction met the governor yesterday at Raj Bhavan.
They were all immediately moved to a resort in Puducherry to safeguard them from switching their loyalty.
According to sources, 20 rooms have been booked in The Windflower Resorts and Spa.
This is the second time the Sasikala-Dinakaran faction is resorting to ‘resort politics.’
Earlier this year, after Panneerselvam broke away from the AIADMK, the Sasikala-Dinakaran group housed the party legislators numbering over 120 in a resort in Kuvathoor near here for several days.
The legislators were asked to stay there so that they do not switch to the Panneerselvam camp then.
Only after Palaniswami won the trust vote in the assembly were the AIADMK legislators allowed to go home.
Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister Panneerselvam reportedly went into a huddle after the Dinakaran group met the governor. Details of their meeting or what they plan to do to counter the threat to the government were not immediately known.
Reacting to the developments, Stalin, Leader of Opposition in the assembly, told Rao in a letter: “Any inordinate delay in asking the chief minister to prove his majority will pave the way for continuance of an unconstitutional government and it will destabilise the democratic norms and precedents established in demonstrating the confidence of the House.”
He said this will give room for “evil practice of horse-trading” which he added was seen when Palaniswami proved his majority earlier.
PMK’s Ramadoss said the 19 legislators belonging to the Dinakaran group had told the governor that they had withdrawn support to the government. And so, the AIADMK government had lost legislative majority.
The AIADMK had 134 members in the assembly (excluding the speaker). Ramadoss said this number had now fallen to 115.
Ramadoss said three legislators belonging to other parties who fought the 2016 elections under the AIADMK’s “two leaves” symbol had also expressed support to Dinakaran.
As a result, the total number of AIADMK legislators supporting the government was only 112, less than the number needed for a legislative majority, he said.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly has 234 seats. One seat is vacant due to the death of AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa.
The DMK has 89 members, the Congress 8 and the Indian Union Muslim League 1. Speaker P Dhanapal has only a casting vote in a tie. The DMK, Congress and IUML are in an alliance.
Police are deployed as AIADMK deputy general secretary T T V Dinakaran arrives to meet Tamil Nadu Governor C V Rao at Raj Bhavan in Chennai yesterday.
