CHENNAI: C Vijaya Baskar, AIADMK Whip of the AIADMK legislature party led by CVe Shanmugam group petitioned to Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar to disqualify 22 MLAs, including Edappadi K Palaniswami, for defying a directive to support the TVK government during trust vote.
Talking to reporters after meeting the Speaker, Vijaya Baskar, said, "The legislature party's office-bearers are decided by the majority of MLAs. We have the support of 25 MLAs and the majority. As the Whip of the legislature party, I have sent a directive to all 47 MLAs to vote in favour of the TVK government. But Palaniswami and 21 MLAs have not obeyed my directive. Hence, we have sought their disqualification."
Conversely, SP Velumani, claiming leadership of the legislature party, argued that internal party divisions render the removal of functionaries invalid.
Natham R Viswanathan, another leader of the CVe Shanmugam group, said, "Palaniswami should reverse his trend of sending out party functionaries and instead, should invite everyone and convene the general council meeting at the earliest to discuss the party's defeat in the Assembly elections."
The cross-voting by 25 AIADMK MLAs who have rallied behind Shanmugam and another senior leader SP Velumani made the TVK government to significantly improve its tally to 144 in the 234-member House.
The DMK walked out while PMK abstained, and the lone BJP MLA stayed neutral.
Twenty-one other AIADMK MLAs owing allegiance to Palaniswami, besides himself, voted against the government.
