CHENNAI: Appearing unperturbed by the Speaker’s notice on their disqualification as lawmakers, the dissenting MLAs remained defiant saying that they would take legal recourse in the case of disqualification.
“It is nothing but tactics of intimidation. We will meet it in the court if the Speaker takes action (to disqualify us),” P Vetrivel, MLA, told reporters at the Secretariat.
Terming the move irrational, the vocal supporter of T T V Dhinakaran stated that there was no ground for any such action as no whip was in force and the one issued last time (February) had lapsed.
Vetrivel representing Perambur in the Assembly questioned why no action had been taken so far against Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and the other 11 MLAs who voted against the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami in February last.
He also stated that the steps aimed at disqualifying the dissenters went against the spirit of the judgment of the Supreme Court in the BS Yediyurappa case.
Meanwhile, the dissenting MLAs said that they had not received any notice from the Speaker.
“None of us has received any notice from the Speaker so far,” Thanga Tamilselvan, MLA, told Express on Thursday.
He also questioned the rationale behind the move aimed at disqualifying the rebel MLAs.
“If they venture to disqualify us, it will be tantamount to contempt of court,” Thanga Tamilselvan noted.