19 AIADMK MLAs oppose EPS

Chennai: A day after the AIADMK emerged stronger with the merger of its two factions, as many as 19 party MLAs loyal to T.T.V. Dhinakaran told Tamil Nadu Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao on Tuesday that they “no longer had confidence” in chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and withdrew their support to him.

Soon after, Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin appealed to the Governor to direct the chief minister to prove his majority in the Assembly immediately.

The 19 legislators who support Mr Dhinakaran, nephew of V.K. Sasikala, the party’s jailed general secretary, were immediately moved to Windflower resort in Puducherry.  

Sources said that the legislators will stay at the resort till the vote of confidence on the floor of the House. Tight security has been arranged at the resort.

In identical letters submitted to Mr Rao, the 19 AIADMK MLAs accused Mr Palaniswami of being “corrupt” and “encouraging corruption” at all levels and also took a dig at the merger of EPS and OPS factions of the AIADMK.

“I hereby express my lack of confidence on Mr Edappadi K. Palaniswami and withdraw my earlier support given to him... I hereby submit that I have not given up my membership of the AIADMK and I am only doing my duty as a conscious citizen to express the abuse and misuse of the Constitution provision,” the letter submitted by the MLAs said.

In the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, which was reduced to 233 after the death of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa and the cancellation of the RK Nagar by-polls, the AIADMK needs at least 117 votes to remain in power. 

Right now, AIADMK has 134 seats in the Assembly, excluding the House Speaker and Jayalalithaa. While O. Palaniswami claims to have 104 MLAs and Mr Panneerselvam 10, Mr Dhinakaran is alleged to have 22 to 25, including three Independent MLAs.

In his letter to the governor, Mr Stalin said that consequent to the MLAs’ letter, expressing lack of confidence in Mr Palaniswami, an unprecedented constitutional crisis had erupted. He asked the governor “to uphold the constitutional norms and the parameters laid down by the Supreme Court in the famous “SR Bommai case”, and ask the chief minister to prove his majority in the Assembly immediately.

Political observers say that the no-confidence letter by the 19 MLAs is a “pressure tactic” to stop any punitive action against Ms Sasikala.