Chennai: The 19 AIADMK legislators belonging to the faction led by jailed party general secretary V.K. Sasikala's nephew T.T.V. Dhinakaran were on Tuesday ferried to a resort in Puducherry to safeguard them from switching their loyalty, after they withdrew support to Tamil Nadu chief minister K. Palaniswami.
In order to safeguard them from switching loyalty, the legislators were taken to The Windflower Resorts and Spa in Puducherry.
"Seven MLAs who support Dhinakaran and VK Sasikala have reached the resort," ANI tweeted.
According to sources, 20 rooms have been booked in the resort and a couple of legislators have already checked in.
This is the second time the Sasikala-Dhinakaran faction is resorting to `resort politics.'
Earlier too, MLAs were shunted out to a resort during the power tussle between AIADMK (AMMA) leader V.K. Sasikala and former chief minister Panneerselvam.
The Sasikala-Dinakaran group housed the party legislators numbering over 120 in a resort in Kuvathoor near here for several days.
The legislators were asked to stay there so that they do not switch to the Panneerselvam camp then.
Only after Palaniswami won the trust vote in the assembly, the AIADMK legislators were allowed to go ome.
Unhappy over the AIADMK merger, MLAs loyal to sidelined Sasikala and T.T.V. Dhinakaran told the governor that they no longer had confidence in chief minister K. Palaniswami, prompting the opposition DMK to demand a trust vote.
"We are going to initiate efforts to bring in a new CM with the help of our supporting MLAs," Dhinakaran supporter and Andipatti MLA Thanga Tamil Selvan told reporters following a meeting with the governor, a day after the patch-up between the camps led by Palaniswami and rebel leader Panneerselvam.
The Dhinakaran camp had Monday claimed the support of the 25 MLAs of AIADMK. Raj Bhavan sources confirmed that the meeting took place Tuesday morning, but did not divulge details, including the number of members in the delegation and the nature of their interaction with Rao.
"We have informed the governor that we don't have confidence in the Chief Minister," Selvan said after the MLAs owing allegiance to Dhinakaran, nephew of jailed AIADMK general secretary Sasikala, met Rao.
The number game
Of the 234-member assembly, the AIADMK has 134 MLAs excluding the speaker. Late chief minister Jayalalithaa's RK Nagar constituency is still vacant.
The DMK has 89 seats followed by its allies Congress with eight and IUML one seat.
Seeking to capitalize on the developments, principal opposition DMK shot off a letter to the Governor asking him to convene the assembly and direct Palaniswami to prove his majority in the House.
Asked about the possibility of the Palaniswami government facing a trust vote, Selvan said that was 'our intention'.
"Our intention is that there should be a trust vote. So after that a new chief minister will be in place," he claimed.
MLAs supporting Dhinakaran have been on a warpath against Palaniswami, questioning the merger of the Amma faction-led by him and Panneerselvam's Puratchi Thalaivi Amma faction Monday.
Tamil Selvan criticized Palaniswami for aligning with Panneerselvam, who had been critical of the government till very recently.
"The 122 (AIADMK) MLAs had made Palaniswami chief minister because Chinnamma (Sasikala) asked us to do so. Panneerselvam had voted against the government (in the February 18 trust vote).
"He wanted to split the party and topple the government. Yet you give the deputy chief minister's post to him. What is the need for that now?" he asked.
He also expressed anguish over efforts to remove Sasikala from the party, saying it was she who ensured the continuation of the AIADMK government following Panneerselvam's revolt in February last.
In a related development, Dhinakran announced removal of senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP R. Vaithilingam from the primary membership of the party.
The move came a day after Vaithilingam, a loyalist of Palaniswami, said steps would be taken for the removal of Sasikala from the AIADMK.
Sasikala betrayed?
Earlier, in his reaction to the merger, Dhinakaran dubbed it as a 'betrayal' of party general secretary Sasikala.
In a series of tweets last night, he also questioned the durability of the arrangement.
"It is not a merger. It is a commercial agreement reached for self-interest and hunger for positions and to protect posts," Dhinakaran charged.
He also claimed that not only the AIADMK cadres, but even the public would not forgive "those who betrayed the general secretary who made Pannerselvam and Palaniswami the chief ministers after the death of Jayalalithaa".
His tweets came hours after the factions merged and Panneerselvam, who had challenged Sasikala's leadership, was appointed the deputy chief minister and his close aide K. Pandiarajan a minister.
Responding to Dhinakaran's loyalist MLAs meeting the governor, opposition parties including DMK, said Palaniswami should now prove his majority.
DMK working president and leader of the opposition M.K. Stalin said as a result of the letters given by MLAs, the incumbent government led by Palanisamy has 'lost' its majority.
"As the leader of opposition, I therefore request the governor to direct Palaniswami to prove his majority in the House immediately," Stalin said in the letter to Rao.
DMK will take a 'good decision' on the trust vote at an appropriate time, he later told reporters.
PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss also said that following the revolt of MLAs, the Palaniswami government should prove its majority.
(With inputs from PTI and IANS)
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