CHENNAI: AIADMK MLA representing Ambasamudram constituency, Esakki Subaya, who belongs to the CVe Shanmugam faction, resigned from his post today. He is the fourth legislator to step down, following three MLAs who resigned yesterday.
On Monday Madurantakam MLA Maragatham Kumaravel, Dharapuram MLA P Sathyabama, and Perundurai MLA S Jayakumar submitted their resignation letters to Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar (Speaker). They later joined the ruling TVK in the presence of Minister Aadhav Arjuna at the Secretariat.
The resignations come at a time when reports suggested that efforts were underway to reunite the divided AIADMK factions led by CVE Shanmugam (CVE) and Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS).Esakki Subaya, who represents the Ambasamudram constituency, met Speaker Prabhakar at the Secretariat on Tuesday and submitted his resignation in handwritten form, which the Speaker subsequently accepted.
Following his resignation, the total number of MLAs supporting S.P. Velumani and CVE Shanmugam (CVE) has come down to 16. This includes three MLAs who resigned and five others who switched to the Edappadi K Palaniswami (EPS) camp yesterday. Those five are: Anthiyur MLA P Haribaskar, Arcot MLA SM Sugumar, Sankarankovil MLA Dileepan Jaishankar, Kangeyam MLA NSN Natarajan, and Panruti MLA Mohan.
Speaking to reporters, Speaker JCD Prabhakar (Speaker) said it is an MLA’s own decision to resign from his post, and therefore he has accepted the resignations in accordance with the law. The Speaker also stated that the letter submitted by the EPS faction seeking action against MLAs under the anti-defection law is still under his consideration, and he will take the right decision at an appropriate time.
Amid these developments, both the EPS camp and the CVE Shanmugam (CVE) camp held meetings to discuss further steps.
It is expected that another set of MLAs from the CVE camp will resign from their posts and join the TVK soon.