Vijay’s TVK govt secures support of 144 MLAs in floor test; DMK walks out

The C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government won the trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday with the support of 144 MLAs, including backing from AIADMK rebels.

A total of 22 members voted against the motion, including AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, while five members abstained from voting. The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) did not participate in the floor test and walked out of the assembly.

Vijay, whose TVK enjoys a strength of 107, was supported by the Congress, which has 5 MLAs. Besides, CPI, CPM, VCK and IUML- with two MLAs each- have also supported the maiden TVK government.

As soon as the House convened, Chief Minister Vijay moved a vote of confidence resolution, and the MLAs belonging to all parties spoke on the motion.

Speaker JCD Prabhakar, after conducting division-wise voting, declared that the resolution moved by the chief minister seeking vote of confidence of the Assembly has won, and as many as 144 MLAs voted with the government, 22 MLAs opposed and five took a neutral stand, including the PMK and BJP.

MLA S Kamaraj, expelled from AMMK, was among those who voted in favour of the government.

Earlier, a section of AIADMK MLAs led by senior leaders SP Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam and opposed to party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami, have announced support to the government.