BackTamil Nadu speaker disqualifies 18 MLAs of Dhinakaran faction
Tamil Nadu speaker P. Dhanapal disqualifies 18 MLAs from AIADMK's dissident faction led by T.T.V. Dinakaran on the grounds that they had switched their 'party'
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Bengaluru/Chennai: Tamil Nadu speaker P. Dhanapal on Monday disqualified 18 legislators from the ruling party’s dissident faction led by T.T.V. Dhinakaran, citing Article 190 of the Constitution.
The 18 MLAs approached the high court challenging the disqualification.
At least 19 legislators had withdrawn support to the Edapaddi Palaniswami-led Tamil Nadu government. Palaniswami leads the largest faction of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party by a distance.
Dhinakaran, the sidelined deputy general secretary of the party, engineered a split after he was ousted following the merger of the factions led by Palaniswami and deputy chief minister O. Panneerselvam. The speaker’s move comes ahead of a Madras high court decision on an opposition plea for a floor test of the government’s strength in the assembly.
The high court on Thursday stayed any move to hold a trust vote till 20 September. While the government is likely to win a floor test, especially after Monday’s disqualifications, the court’s decision on Wednesday will be crucial.
Adding a fresh twist to the political manoeuvrings in Tamil Nadu, Dhinakaran declared, “Our MLAs will definitely take part in the trust vote." Nineteen MLAs backing Dhinakaran met governor Vidyasagar Rao on 22 August and withdrew support to the Palaniswami government, prompting government whip S. Rajendran to call for them to be disqualified. Then, earlier this month, S.T.K. Jakkaiyan, one of the 19, switched back to the chief minister’s camp.
Late on Monday, Dhinakaran claimed that the governor was aware that Palaniswami and Panneerselvam do not have the required numbers and had delayed a floor test. “From a political crisis, it is taking the shape of a constitutional crisis," Sathyamoorthy, a Tamil Nadu-based political analyst said.
He said the centre had contributed to the problem by failing to appoint a full-time governor for Tamil Nadu which has been in crisis mode since the hospitalisation of chief minister J. Jayalalithaa last September. It was Jayalalithaa’s death in December that sparked off a race for the top job. Rao is expected to be in Chennai on Tuesday.
Dhinakaran’s aunt V.K.Sasikala, a close aide of the late chief minister Jayalalithaa, had attempted to take over the top post in the party and the government, leading to a crisis within the party that has lasted for almost a year now.
The government notification issued by speaker Dhanapal said that the “seats held by them (the disqualified 18 MLAs) in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly shall thereupon fall vacant according to the provisions of the Article 190(3) (a) of the constitution of India."
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