CHENNAI: With the 15-day period for condoning the action of the 25 AIADMK MLAs who defied the party whip and voted in support of the TVK government on May 13 set to expire on May 27, both groups may be heading towards an amicable resolution, as the stakes for both groups have now gone up.
Legal experts have already clarified that only the party leader can choose the office-bearers of the legislative party, and that the act of 25 AIADMK MLAs who supported the TVK government has incurred disqualification.
“Under the anti-defection law, an MLA who votes against the party whip may avoid disqualification if the party formally condones the breach within 15 days, and for that, the MLA should first apologise to the party leadership. This will be followed by a letter to be submitted before the Assembly speaker, as AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has already sought the disqualification of the 25 MLAs,” a senior functionary close to Palaniswami told TNIE.
Another functionary said, “Almost all MLAs in the rival group have agreed to come back. Since many of them have gone to their respective constituencies to thank the people for electing them, they may meet Palaniswami in the coming days.”
Regarding the speculation that Palaniswami was not prepared to ‘condone’ the acts of certain MLAs in the rival group for having “exceeded their limits”, the functionary said, “We expect everything to come to a peaceful conclusion soon.”
There is also a view that if the Palaniswami camp presses for the disqualification of the 25 rebel MLAs, or even a section of them, it could ultimately work in favour of the TVK government, as any reduction in the effective strength of the Assembly would lower the number required to prove a majority.
TVK sources said, “There is no time frame for the speaker to dispose the representations seeking disqualification of MLAs belonging to the rival faction. As such, the speaker will take time to consider the legal aspects elaborately and other issues relating to the dispute.”
Reinstating district secretaries removed from their posts and withdrawing representations made by both groups before the speaker and the petition filed by the rival faction before the ECI are among the issues being considered for an amicable resolution of the feud.
S P Velumani, one of the leaders of the rival group, said two days ago that there is no dispute and Palaniswami continues to be the general secretary of the party, signalling a possible thaw in the AIADMK’s intra-party feud. However, Velumani reiterated the demand for convening the general council meeting at the earliest.
Leaders of the rival faction could not be contacted on Sunday for their comments about their next move.
On May 11, the Palaniswami faction first approached the pro-tem speaker by submitting the list of office-bearers for the AIADMK legislature party. Within a few hours, the rival group led by C Ve Shanmugam also made similar claims with their own office-bearers.