AIADMK MLA CV Shanmugam from the rebel faction had said that 25 MLAs supported the Vijay-led government.
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“Edappadi (Palaniswami) is lying on the issue of signatures of 47 MLAs on the resolution to not support TVK,” he told reporters. “When did the 47 MLAs sign this resolution? He cannot claim this as no such meeting on a resolution took place. The letter given by Edappadi to the Speaker was forged.”
Shanmugam added that Palaniswami’s of the MLAs voting against the ‘whip’ appointed by him was completely false. He went on to say that minister C Vijaya Bhaskar is the selected AIADMK whip in the Tamil Nadu assembly and that the party whip cannot be appointed directly by the party’s general secretary.
He reiterated that it is the speaker who has the power to decide on who has the majority and who can be AIADMK assembly leader, deputy leader and whip.
Further, AIADMK MLA SP Velumani called for VK Sasikala and TTV Dhinakaran to be inducted back into AIADMK. He also said that the continuous failures of the party should be analysed and made it a point to say that the rebel faction had no intention to split the party as was being claimed by Palaniswami.Also Read: MLA oath taking: AIADMK members appear in two groups
Palaniswami for his part said the party was opposing the trust vote moved by Vijay and that all 47 AIADMK MLAs would oppose it. He also questioned if it was fair for the chief minister to have met some MLAs from the rebel faction. His statements led to commotion in the House as speaker JCD Prabhakar invited rebel AIADMK leader SP Velumani to speak on the trust vote. Velumani led all the rebel MLAs to vote in favour of the TVK.
Post the trust vote, Palaniswami told reporters that the government had been formed by ‘luring’ some members with promises of ministerial posts and board appointments.
