Stalin says Palaniswami govt has lost majority, calls for trust vote

Leader of Opposition MK Stalin has said that Tamil Nadu’s Edappadi K Palaniswami government had lost its majority after several AIADMK MLAs submitted identical letters to Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao, expressing their lack of confidence in the Chief Minister.

An ‘unprecedented’ constitutional crisis had erupted in which the present government had lost the majority, Stalin, the DMK Working President, said in a letter to Rao.

Stalin urged the Governor to direct Palaniswami to immediately prove his majority in the House and uphold the constitutional norms and parameters laid down by the Supreme Court in the SR Bommai case.

While Stalin claimed 22 MLAs had submitted letters to the Governor, only 19 MLAs loyal to TTV Dhinakaran gave letters stating they had no confidence in Palaniswami.

The MLAs said Palaniswami had ‘forfeited’ the confidence of the people, and announced withdrawal of support to him. They urged Rao to intervene and institute the constitutional process.

“We are going to initiate efforts to bring in a new chief minister with the help of our supporting MLAs,” Dhinakaran’s supporter and Andipatti MLA Thanga Tamil Selvan said.

The AIADMK has 134 seats in the State Assembly, excluding the Speaker and RK Nagar seat that fell vacant following death of chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The DMK has 89 seats, followed by Congress with eight and IUML one.

With 19 MLAs in the Dhinakaran camp, the government is short of a simple majority by one seat in the 234-member Assembly.

Meanwhile, the MLAs backing Dhinakaran later proceeded to a resort in the neighbouring Puducherry, news agency PTI has reported. At the Puducherry resort, Thanga Tamil Selvan said, “We have come here to take rest.”

He declined to disclose how long the legislators will be staying there. There was no clarity on the number of MLAs staying at the resort.

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