Dinakaran's MLAs revolt against TN CM; DMK seeks trust vote
22 Aug 2017 6:13 PM GMT
Chennai/ Puducherry: Upset over the merger of rival factions of AIADMK, MLAs loyal to sidelined party supremo V K Sasikala and her nephew T T V Dinakaran on Tuesday told Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao that they have lost confidence in Chief Minister E K Palaniswami, prompting the Opposition DMK to demand a trust vote. "We are going to initiate efforts to bring in a new chief minister with the help of our supporting MLAs," Dinakaran's supporter and Andipatti MLA Thanga Tamil Selvan said.
He was speaking to reporters following a meeting with the governor, a day after the merger of the two rival factions led by Palaniswami and rebel leader O Panneerselvam, a former chief minister. The MLAs backing Dinakaran later proceeded to a resort in the neighbouring Puducherry. At the Puducherry resort, Thanga Tamil Selvan said, "We have come here to take rest."
He declined to disclose how long the legislators will be staying there. There was no clarity on the number of MLAs staying at the resort. The Dinakaran camp had on Monday claimed the support of 25 AIADMK MLAs. Raj Bhavan sources confirmed that Rao met Dinakaran loyalists but declined to divulge what transpired there, including how many MLAs were present during the meeting.
"We have informed the governor that we don't have confidence in the chief minister," Selvan said after the meeting. In the 234-member Assembly, the AIADMK has 134 MLAs, excluding the Speaker. Late chief minister Jayalalithaa's RK Nagar constituency is still vacant.
The DMK has 89 seats followed by its allies Congress eight and IUML one. Seeking to fish in troubled waters, principal opposition party DMK shot off a letter to the governor demanding that the Assembly be convened and Palaniswami directed to prove his majority.
DMK working president and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly M K Stalin, in a letter to Rao, said that "consequent upon identical letters given by 22 MLAs to the governor expressing lack of confidence in the chief minister, an unprecedented constitutional crisis has erupted." He cited a similar occasion in Karnataka when the governor of that state had directed the then chief minister B S Yeddyurappa to prove his majority in the House.
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