Palaniswami wins amid din; Stalin, OPS cry foul
FLOOR TEST Vote taken without DMK, Cong members as pandemonium prevails
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu chief minister E Palaniswami comfortably won a dramatic trust vote on Saturday amid chaos after the speaker threw out opposition DMK members for violence and Congress legislators walked out.
Palaniswami won by 122 votes to 11 after speaker P Dhanapal twice adjourned the House within a couple of hours when DMK legislators broke furniture and microphones, threw papers and even occupied his chair.
The unprecedented eviction of the 88 DMK legislators and the secrecy surrounding the special session are likely to take the sheen off Paliniswami’s win, which also hands a moral victory to disgraced AIADMK chief VK Sasikala in a high-stakes battle against her challenger O Panneerselvam.
His victory meant that Panneerselvam’s gamble of revolting against Sasikala – a long-time confidante of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa – has failed and his dreams of holding on to the top job gone, at least for the time being.
The current crisis erupted about two weeks ago when in a late-night dramatic revolt, Panneerselvam alleged DMK: It wanted secret voting. The strategy was driven by a hope that a split AIADMK would lead to President’s rule for a few months and eventually fresh elections. Congress: The
Congress went with the DMK. The party would also prefer fresh elections, which might give it and the DMK another opportunity to return to power. Sasikala – anointed to succeed Jayalalithaa as CM – forced him to resign from the state’s top post.
But despite Palaniswami winning the trust vote handily, the political thriller that has transfixed the nation for weeks showed no signs of ending.
Minutes after he was carried AIADMK (Palaniswami faction): The group was opposed to a secret ballot fearing that some MLAs might switch loyalties. Winning the vote means even disgruntled MLAs will come around. out by marshals, DMK working president MK Stalin rushed to governor C Vidyasagar Rao to complain about the speaker’s actions and Panneeerselvam’s camp dubbed the floor test “undemocratic”. Stalin later sat on a protest dharna at Marina Beach, ringed by party members.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 6 AIADMK (Panneerselvam faction): O Panneerselvam is left with the option of leading a breakaway group of the AIADMK or seeking refuge in another party.