Even after the fall of the DMK government in Tamil Nadu and the coming into existence of the TVK government, the politics here remains heated. AIADMK, which performed poorly in the assembly elections, is facing continuous setbacks. Just 21 days after the election results were announced, the party suffered a big blow on Monday, when senior leader C.V. Shanmugam and S.P. Three MLAs from the rebel group led by Velumani resigned and joined the ruling TVK party. Following this development, opposition DMK and AIADMK accused TVK of “horse-trading”.
Although the ruling party rejected the allegations of horse-trading, the three MLAs insisted that they had joined the TVK party of their own free will. He served as Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, former Chief Minister J. Like Jayalalitha, she was also praised for the steps taken in favor of women.
Pre-planned conspiracy: AIADMK chief
AIADMK chief E.K. Palaniswami strongly targeted the “fraudulent activities” of the TVK government and said that such things are new in Tamil Nadu politics. He termed this incident of resignation of 3 MLAs as a “pre-planned conspiracy”. Whereas DMK chief M.K. Stalin also targeted TVK for “horse-trading”.
This development came after the crushing defeat of AIADMK in the assembly elections held in the state. Whereas this is the fourth major electoral defeat of the party since 2019. The party MLAs seem to be divided into two groups, in which one group is supporting the party general secretary Palaniswami, and the other is supporting the Shanmugam-Velumani duo. Both the groups have different opinions on the issue of proving the majority of the TVK government after the swearing in.
AIADMK’s number of seats decreased in the House
However, the Palaniswami faction voted against it, while on the other hand, the faction of 25 MLAs supported the Vijay K-led government, and hence Vijay easily won the trust vote.
Speaker JCD Prabhakar accepted the resignation of the three rebel MLAs, due to which the number of AIADMK seats in the 234-member assembly has reduced from 47 to 44.
Maragatham Kumaravel, contesting on AIADMK ticket, from Madurantakam seat, P. Satyabhama from Dharapuram seat and S. Jayakumar had won from Perundurai assembly constituency.
What reason did the MLAs give for their resignation?
Soon after meeting the Speaker at the Secretariat, the three MLAs met senior TVK leader and PWD minister Aadhav Arjun. Later, TVK general secretary and state minister N. In the presence of Anand, all three MLAs joined the party. Kumaravel said that after the assembly election results, AIADMK adopted a dual policy, first forming the government with DMK and then supporting TVK.
Speaking to reporters along with Satyabhama and Jayakumar, Kumaravel said, “We did not want an alliance with the DMK. But around 30 MLAs, led by former state minister Shanmugam, opposed the idea of AIADMK forging an alliance with the DMK and took a stand of supporting TVK. But then we did not leave the party.”
He further said, “Now we have decided to join TVK on our own free will, because we did not like AIADMK’s alliance with DMK. This decision of ours is personal; we have taken it in the interest of our self-respect and the people of our constituencies, and not for any selfishness,” he further said.
However, it was a matter of relief for Palaniswami that 5 MLAs from the Shanmugam-Velumani camp returned to his camp. These three resigned MLAs were among the 25 AIADMK MLAs who defied the party’s order and voted in favor of the Vijay-led TVK government during the floor test held on May 13.
By-elections will be held on 4 seats after the elections are over
After the Speaker accepted the resignation, by-elections will now be held on 4 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu, including Tiruchirappalli East seat, which was vacated by Chief Minister Vijay himself. Speaker Prabhakar said that the resignations of the three AIADMK MLAs were accepted because they were in the correct format as per the prescribed procedures.
These resignations and split in AIADMK have come to light within just 21 days of the announcement of assembly election results. After the elections, this is a big blow for AIADMK. Also, it is a shock for DMK, because before the elections, many of its allies (Congress, VCK and IUML) have joined the TVK government, and Left parties have also extended their support to the Vijay-led government.
Amid speculations of a reconciliation between the two factions of the AIADMK, five MLAs supporting Shanmugam met Palaniswami at his residence on Greenways Road, Chennai and formally joined the party. In this way, the number of MLAs supporting Palaniswami in the Assembly has increased to 27. Among the MLAs who left the Velumani camp were S.M. Sukumar (Arcot) was also included. With 3 resignations and 5 MLAs going back to Palaniswami camp, the strength of the rebel camp has weakened and has now come down from 25 to 17.
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