In the climax, rebel loses the plot

In the end, it was all over in a matter of minutes.

In the end, it was all over in a matter of minutes. The Ayes had it, 122 of them as against 11 Nays, and AIADMK’s new Chief Minister ‘Edappadi’ K Palanisamy’s government won the vote of confidence. But what happened a couple of hours earlier added another shameful chapter to the annals of the Tamil Nadu Assembly that had assembled for its special session Saturday for the trust vote.

Convention demanded that in a situation like in TN, voting had to happen through division. Yet Leader of Opposition M K Stalin and the AIADMK rebel group led by O Panneerselvam pressed on putting off the vote to a later date and holding a secret ballot. When Speaker P Dhanapal refused to yield, DMK members rushed to the well of the House, gheraoed and heckled him, pushed his table down, yanked off a mike and tore up papers. When the Speaker was shepherded away, a couple of DMK members even occupied his chair for a few seconds. So much for showing respect to the Chair, a phrase that is frequently mouthed with little conviction. Stalin and his party members had to be evicted before voting could take place.

The DMK’s brazenness was shocking, more so because it happened under Stalin’s watch. For, unlike his ailing father M Karunanidhi, Stalin does not believe in needlessly needling people. He was in fact appreciated in the past for showing the spirit of accommodation in the Assembly. While Stalin tried to create a spectacle out of nothing, it was OPS who completely lost the plot. Audio-visual clips showcased his total identification with the DMK, which is anathema to any AIADMK voter. They established jailed AIADMK chief V K Sasikala’s allegations about the OPS-Stalin tango.
The new chief minister can be expected to harp on OPS’ loss of credibility to snuff out the rebellion. As for the MLAs in the rebel camp, their future appears uncertain since they voted against the official party whip.

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