18 rebel MLAs disqualified
Strength of TN Assembly now at 214
The Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal on Monday disqualified 18 MLAs supporting rebel leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran for withdrawing their support to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and going against the “line of the ruling AIADMK”.
The Speaker’s decision brings down the strength of the 234member Assembly to 214 and the magic number for a majority down to 108 from 118, which might enable the Edappadi K. Palaniswami government to prove its strength on the floor of the House.
As per the last count on September 5, the Chief Minister’s camp has the support of 114 MLAs as 111 of them turned up at a meeting and three others registered their presence over phone. The Tamil Nadu Assembly has 19 seats vacant as of now, including RK Nagar which is vacant since the late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa’s death in December last year. A floor test cannot take place till Wednesday as per a directive from the Madras High Court.
Almost a month after the rebel group MLAs had submitted a letter to the acting Governor, Ch Vidyasagar Rao, stating the withdrawal of their support to the Chief Minister, Mr Dhanapal issued a statement in which he said the legislators were disqualified under the the Members of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (Disqualification On Ground of Defection) Rules, 1986.
The MLAs who were disqualified include P. Vetrivel and Thanga Tamilselvan, the most vocal supporters of Dhinakaran, whose appointment as deputy general secretary and reinduction into the party was struck down by the General Council last week. A majority of the disqualified legislators are staying at a private resort in Karnataka's Kodagu district.
The move was expected since the Speaker had sent them notices seeking their reply on why they should not be disqualified for going against the party line on August 24. Mr Dhanapal had acted on a petition filed by chief whip S. Rajendran who sought their disqualification for expressing “no confidence” against the Chief Minister.