19 pro-Sasikala MLAs on notice

Chennai, August 24

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The factional war in the ruling AIADMK intensified on Thursday with Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal issuing notice to 19 MLAs who had rebelled against CM K Palaniswami why they cannot be disqualified.

The 19 are part of the faction led by the now jailed AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala and her nephew TTV Dinakaran. The notice comes soon after AIADMK’s chief whip S Rajendran wrote to Dhanapal to disqualify the MLAs who have rebelled against the Chief Minister following the merger of the party’s two main factions led by Palaniswami and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.

The Speaker has asked the 19 legislators to reply within a week. Upset over the coming together of the two major factions of the AIADMK, the 19 legislators have submitted a memorandum to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao withdrawing their support to the CM.

Rajendran said by withdrawing support to the Chief Minister, the dissenting MLAs had attracted the provision of the anti-defection law.

The Dinakaran faction, whose MLAs are now holed up in Puducherry, reacted sharply. A spokesperson for the group said it was aimed at preventing more legislators from joining them. The move comes as the Opposition parties have been demanding the CM to prove his majority in the assembly. A case has been filed in the Madras HC for a direction to the Governor to ask the CM to prove majority. — IANS