Chennai: At least four councillors — two belonging to the AIADMK, one from AMMK and one Independent — quit their respective parties and joined Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) on Friday. The move comes days ahead of the next Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) council meeting.As AIADMK has 14 councillors in the 200-member council, the departure of two councillors will bring down its strength to 12. Council authorities said they were consulting lawyers to check if the two defected councillors would attract disqualification under the anti-defection law.The defectors include AIADMK councillors R G Rajesh Sekar (ward 21, Manali) and E Settu (ward 24, Madhavaram), AMMK councillor V V Giridharan (ward 148, Valasaravakkam), and independent councillor Leo N Sundaram (ward 198).Sundaram won as an AIADMK councillor and later, joined BJP. He, however, remained Independent as it was not yet recognised by the Council secretariat. He has now crossed to TVK. All the four joined TVK earlier this week in the presence of party general secretary N Anand.An independent councillor, Rajan Barnabas, joined TVK in Feb. Now, the total number of TVK-supporting councillors in the council is five. Speaking to TOI, Rajesh Sekar said he quit AIADMK disappointed over party leader Edappadi K Palaniswamy holding talks with DMK to form a govt. “We can never ally with DMK,” he said.Settu said AIADMK had failed to fill organisational posts in recent years and had weakened in Chennai. “We do not see a future in the party to continue public service. That is why we joined TVK,” he said.Giridharan, AMMK’s lone councillor, said he was unhappy with the party contesting elections with BJP and pointed to its poor performance. He said AMMK lacked organisational structure in Chennai and claimed nearly 3,000 local-level AIADMK and AMMK functionaries from Maduravoyal, Valasaravakkam and Porur had shifted to TVK.“People are joining because they see political opportunity. TVK has not offered us any posts. We have only received membership cards,” he said.DMK currently holds 153 seats in the GCC council, while AIADMK has 13. The TVK alliance will now have 20 members in the council — TVK (5), Congress (13), CPI and CPM (2 each), and VCK (4). Four seats are vacant. Deputy mayor Mahesh Kumar said the corporation would consult the council secretary on initiating defection proceedings against AIADMK councillors.
