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Disqualification of 18 MLAs signals end of Sasikala's clout
EPS, OPS in control of govt and party; TTV Dinakaran willing to give up two leaves.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
With the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal ordering the disqualification of 18 rebel MLAs on Monday, the ruling dispensation has finally secured the majority in the House as the crucial halfway mark, in case of a floor test, has come down.
A Gazette notification by Legislative Assembly Secretariat, released to the media later in the day, stated that the Speaker P Dhanapal had disqualified the MLAs after coming to the conclusion that the activitites of the 18 dissident MLAs, who had petitioned the Governor for removing Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami after accusing him of corruption charges among others, were ‘unilateral and would amount to voluntarily giving up of the membership of the political party, AIADMK, to which they belong’.
The orders were issued by the Speaker in consistency with the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection Rules), 1986, framed by the powers derived from the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
This development has virtually shut all doors for the sacked AIADMK deputy general secretary TTV Dinakaran who received the party’s mantle from his aunt VK Sasikala earlier in February, after the Supreme Court overturned her acquittal by the Karnataka High Court in a disproportionate assets case in which former CM J Jayalalithaa was a co-accused.
With all the MLAs supporting him losing their legislator positions, Dinakaran now has lost his clout. His reign in the AIADMK came to a virtual end on September 12 after the AIADMK General Council meeting convened by the Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam saw the participation of over 85% of the GC members. The meet resolved to sack Dinakaran’s aunt Sasikala besides himself. Having lost control of both the government and the party, the only hope for Dinakaran and his supporters rests in the court where the cases are coming up soon.
Disqualified MLAs
- S Thangatamilselvan
- R Murugan
- S Mariappan Kennedy
- K Kathirkamu
- Jayanthi Padmanabhan
- P Palaniappan
- V Senthil Balaji
- S Muthiah
- P Vetrivel
- N G Parthiban
- M Kodandapani
- T A Elumalai
- M Rengasamy
- R Thangathurai
- R Balasubramani
- S G Subramanian
- R Sundararaj
- K Uma Maheswari
Disqualified legislators to move court
CHENNAI: Last-minute tension prevailed at the Madras High Court on Monday following the disqualification of 18 AIADMK MLAs. Even before the news of their disqualification came, an advocate appearing for one of the rebel MLAs made a mention before the first bench, seeking an urgent hearing to quash the show-cause notice issued by the Speaker against the 18 MLAs. But the bench on declining to hear it, sought the counsel to approach the single judge who has been dealing with the issue so far.
However, it turned out to be a little late as the single judge had commenced hearing the listed case, resulting in the counsel being unable to make a mention. Soon after, the news of their disqualification came and it was clear there was no point in challenging the show-cause notice. Thereafter, it was informed that a mention about this would be made before the single judge. But neither was the mention made nor a plea filed. The plea opposing the disqualification is likely to be filed on Tuesday.
Governor meets President, Jaitley
NEW DELHI: Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao on Monday met President Ram Nath Kovind and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley amid a lingering political crisis in the state. Rao, who has been urged by Opposition parties and dissident AIADMK MLAs to immediately convene the assembly to enable a floor test, is yet to take a decision on when to ask Chief Minister E Palaniswami to face a trial of strength.
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