All MLAs must attend House session, orders AIADMK top brass

With the effective number of the AIADMK MLAs in the House reduced to 111, excluding Speaker P Dhanapal, three alliance partners and two siding with Dinakaran, the 7 legislators who did not turn up for the meeting accounted for their absence citing health reasons and travel out of town, etc.

Following the disqualification of 18 dissident MLAs that sought to change CM, the composition of the House had been reduced to 216, and the ruling party would require a simple working majority of 109 to adopt any resolution including the motion to thank Governor’s customary New Year address in the Assembly that is scheduled for January 8.

Even as the attendance of legislators in AIADMK Legislature Party (LP) meet dipped below a working majority mark, the AIADMK top brass suggested the legislators to behave in the House while leaving posers from the opposition and newly elected RK Nagar legislator TTV Dinakaran to Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his cabinet colleagues, besides adhering to the whip orders issued.

Missing seven: Cooperatives Minister Sellur K Raju, Information and Publicity Minister Kadambur Raju, Khadi and Village Industries Board Minister G Baskaran, legislators A Prabhu (Kallakurichi), S Pavunraj (Poompuhar), VP Sivasubramani (Modakkurichi) and VCArukutty (Kavundampalayam)were missing.

While Sellur K Raju, Prabhu, and Pavunraj had informed the party high-command of embarking on a Sabarimala pilgrimage, Sivasubramani and Arukutty had cited health reasons. Ministers Raju and Baskaran were busy attending a state festivity of Velu Nachiyar’s birth anniversary in Sivaganga.

Deputy CM and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam advised the legislators not to engage with Dinakaran in any manner inside the House. “If Dinakaran props up issues against the government, the same will be countered with by either the CM or the respective cabinet minister who has ambit over the issue concerned,” he said.

The deputy CM stressed on the need for party legislators to steer clear from Dinakaran in the House proceedings, and sought compliance to obey the whip orders issued by Chief Government Whip S Rajendran.

While the ruling dispensation named 12 members, including an alliance party member, as its official spokesperson to interact with media, it is learnt that the Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami cautioned the ministers to stay away from media interactions.

As Palaniswami made this remark, he was jeered. A legislator observed that the party’s mess in total should be attributed to the Cabinet’s public speak. Another point raised by a city based MLA was the absence of a proper mechanism or vehicle to publicise the schemes and milestones of the government.

A minister told the CM that the officials seldom pay heed to such orders issued by them. The CM, in an effort to stop the issue from snowballing into a debate intervened and assured that he would look into the and set it right.

Those who were named official spokespersons include former ministers C Ponnaiyan, B Valarmathi(chairperson, Tamil Nadu Text Book Corporation), S Gokula Indra, Vaigai Selvan, and JCD Prabhakar, former MLAs K Samarasam, Kovai Selvaraj, Prof Dheeran alias A Rajendran, AS Mageswari, and RM Babu Murugavel, former MP KC Palanisamy and journalist M Azhaguraj alias Marudhu Azhaguraj. Alliance partner Indian National Muslim League leader Y Jawahar Ali has also been included on the list.