CHENNAI: The battle for the control of AIADMK has reached the point of no return on Wednesday, with party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami removing the 25 MLAs, including senior leaders, from organisational posts, and the rebels accusing him of collaborating with arch rivals DMK to become the Chief Minister and demanding the re-induction of known Palaniswami baiters.
With both sides refusing to relent, and Palaniswami faction seeking action under anti-defection law against the 25 MLAs for voting in favour of the Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government, the dispute is swiftly inching its way towards the corridors of the court.
What made the split almost formal was the decision by the rebel faction, led by C Ve Shanmugam and SP Velumani, voted in favour of the government during the confidence motion on Wednesday, while 22 legislators part of the Palaniswami faction voted against it. Both sides indulged in a wordy quarrel inside the Assembly over this. But that was only the beginning of the war of words that later played out outside the House.
Addressing reporters, Palaniswami alleged that the rebels defied the whip after being lured by the ruling party with promises of ministerial berths, and termed the episode as horse-trading. He also criticised Speaker JCD Prabhakar for allowing Velumani to speak during the confidence motion debate against Assembly rules.
As the AIADMK general secretary, only he had the authority to appoint the party whip, Palaniswami asserted, and added that senior leader Agri SS Krishnamoorthy, whom he appointed as whip, had issued directions to vote against the motion. However, MLAs belonging to the Shanmugam faction violated it. He also denied allegations that he had tried to become the chief minister with the support of the DMK.
Rejecting the charges, Shanmugam raised damning counter-allegations, claiming that Palaniswami made a desperate attempt to become the chief minister by trying to forge ties with the DMK. According to him, Palaniswami told legislators huddled in Puducherry that he had “spoken to Delhi” and secured approval to form an AIADMK government with outside support from the DMK. “He told MLAs that that they could become Ministers,” Shanmugam alleged.
Two senior DMK leaders had congratulated him over phone for extending support, and assured him of a ministerial berth. “I was totally surprised and could not imagine accepting such an offer. Even my own family would not accept this,” he said.
When this plan hit hurdles, discussions moved towards the possibility of making VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan the chief minister with the support of both Dravidian majors and the Left parties. “A historic opportunity had come for a person from a socially oppressed community to become chief minister. The proposal was that Thirumavalavan would be Chief Minister while the DMK and AIADMK would share the remaining Ministerial posts,” he alleged.
However, Palaniswami rejected the idea, insisting that “either I should be Chief Minister or we should sit in the Opposition”, Shanmugam claimed.
Velumani said his faction was urging Palaniswami to re-induct leaders such as VK Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran, who had earlier split from the AIADMK.
Rejecting AIADMK general secretary’s accusations that the 25 rebel MLAs violated the direction issued by the party whip, senior leader C Ve Shanmugam claimed that only the legislature party wing can the whip, and not the party chief, and added that maintained that C Vijayabaskar continued to be the whip.
He challenged Palaniswami to release the resolution purportedly passed to elect the whip and asserted that Speaker Prabhakar had not recognised a whip from either faction.
Also, the letters of support from party MLAs, which Palaniswami submitted to the pro tem speaker, was originally obtained citing another reason, he alleged.
When asked, former Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal told DT Next that recognising the whip of a faction within the Assembly was entirely at the discretion of the Speaker. “The Speaker may recognise the whip of whichever faction he is satisfied with,” he said.
Amid the political developments, Sasikala said in the evening that she was prepared to unite all factions within the AIADMK and move forward together.
Later in the evening, Palaniswami cracked the whip on rebel MLAs, including Velumani, Shanmugam, Vijayabaskar and Natham R Viswanathan, removing them from party posts for voting in favour of the TVK government. All 25 MLAs were stripped of party responsibilities and new district secretaries were appointed in their place.
Reacting to the disciplinary action, Shanmugam termed the removals “invalid”. He claimed that the general secretary had not sought any explanation before initiating action and argued that Palaniswami had no authority to proceed against them after a substantial number of party members had moved to convene the party’s general council meeting.
He further alleged that the action was a deliberate attempt to prevent them from participating in the general council and maintained that all leaders continued to hold their respective posts.