CHENNAI: A day after three Rajya Sabha MPs defected from the TTV Dhinakaran camp to the ruling AIADMK, two Lok Sabha MPs, M Udhayakumar (Dindigul) and B Senguttuvan (Vellore), did an encore and called on Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami at his residence to convey their support to him.
As numbers go, the head count of MPs with the ruling AIADMK led by Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has gone up from 42 to 47.
Dhinakaran has just one MP, P Nagarajan (Coimbatore), and two MLAs, V T Kalaiselvan (Vriddhachalam) and E Rathinasabapathy (Aranthangi), since 18 other MLAs on his side were already disqualified.
When the media asked Dhinakaran about the three MPs shifting their loyalties to the ruling party, he surprised them by saying, “The MPs spoke to me before moving to that side.” He claimed that the MPs decided to switch sides fearing that they would otherwise be disqualified.
Reacting to this, fisheries minister D Jayakumar said, “Dhinakaran’s claim is a good joke. That is all I can say.” After 45 days of imprisonment, Dhinakaran was released on bail in June in a case relating to the charge that he attempted to bribe EC officials for obtaining the Two Leaves symbol in favour of his faction. Ever since, he tried to wrest back control over the government and the party.
AIADMK parliamentary board meeting postponed
The meeting of the AIADMK parliamentary board scheduled for Wednesday to choose the party candidate for the RK Nagar by-election has been postponed without assigning any reason. At least 19 have expressed their willingness to enter the fray, many of whom are seasoned party hands. The delay in choosing the candidate caused speculation over differe-nce of opinion within the party. Contrary to the earlier notion that AIADMK presidium chair-man E Madhusudhanan was the unanimous choice, now many have requested to be fielded.