Tamil Nadu Speaker rejects disqualification motion against 21 AIADMK MLAs
What's the story
Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar has rejected a motion to disqualify 21 MLAs of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) who supported Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay in the May 13 trust vote, India Today reported. The rebel MLAs, led by leaders Shanmugam and SP Velumani, had voted for Vijay's TVK, boosting its tally from 119 to 144. This decision further divided the AIADMK, with only 22 MLAs remaining loyal to General Secretary Edapaddi K Palaniswami.
Legal threshold
Dissident MLAs lacked numbers to merge with TVK
Despite the rebellion, the dissident MLAs lacked the numbers to merge with TVK under the anti-defection law, which requires two-thirds of a legislature party's support. In the case of AIADMK, this meant at least 31 MLAs were needed to merge with another party. After this development, rival factions approached Speaker Prabhakar seeking the disqualification of each other's MLAs under the same law.
Political shift
Rebel AIADMK legislators supported ruling coalition
In the recent Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, AIADMK won 47 seats while Vijay-led TVK was the single-largest party with 108 seats. However, TVK fell short of a majority and formed a government with support from Congress, IUML, VCK, and Left parties. A group of rebel AIADMK legislators supported this ruling coalition, raising speculations of an internal split in the opposition party.
Party loyalty
AIADMK leader Velumani dismisses speculation
However, senior AIADMK leader SP Velumani dismissed these rumors, saying neither he nor Shanmugam wanted to split the party. He reiterated loyalty to AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and said they should work toward bringing back former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's "Amma rule." The rebel camp also never asked for any posts in the Vijay government, which did not give any Cabinet berths to rebel MLAs during its recent expansion.