TN floor test put on hold
The 18 rebel MLAS say that their disqualification under antidefection laws doesn’t stand legal scrutiny as they didn’t join any other party.
The petitioners also sought to restrain the Speaker, government chief whip S Rajendran, chief minister Palaniswami and the assembly secretary from interfering with their rights as elected representatives.
The Monday disqualification was a boost to Palaniswami as it brought the halfway mark in the 234-member assembly down to 108 from 117. The AIADMK government claims the support of 114 MLAS. If the disqualifications are reversed, the chief minister doesn’t have the numbers to command a majority.
The current crisis began last month after Palaniswami and deputy chief minister Panneerselvam removed Dinakaran and his aunt, jailed party ex-secretary VK Sasikala, from all party posts. Dinakaran struck back, claiming the support of 18 MLAS, who expressed their lack of confidence in the CM in a letter to the governor.
The decision was welcomed by Dinakaran and his faction spokespersons, saying that “justice is on our side and we are confident that the final verdict will come in our favour.” CR Sarsawathi, spokesperson for AIADMK (Dinakaran camp) said that the judgment would come in their favour as “our MLAS did nothing wrong. They have only told the governor that they did not have faith in the chief minister.”
DMK spokesperson A Sarvanan “it is a consent order, which stays floor test and imposes partial stay on disqualification of 18 MLAS.” In fact, the DMK wanted to prevent the government from taking the disqualification route to convert minority into majority. “We want the government to go for fresh elections,” Sarvanan said.
A visibly confident Dinakaran told media that “traitors will lose and be sent packing home.” government hopes that the web portal will centralise the process and eliminate commissions charged by local traders.
Lal Singh said the new dairy farmer association is expected to become the one-point response for consultations on new bovine schemes.
He said the association can also work on procuring qualitative semen, interact with other states associations for better yield and technology methods, can hold expert workshops or training camps for farmers. In addition, it would also work on creating awareness among farmers over government schemes to avail its benefit. and diesel, instead increasing levies on fuel. It has used this money to balance the fisc and spend on development programmes—a sound macroeconomic move, according to many economists.
Still, a recent increase in oil prices, coming in the wake of weak economic data, has resulted in a wave of criticism being directed at the government. It doesn’t help that the Bharatiya Janata Party had made fuel prices a big issue when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance was in power.
Jaitley defended the levies on fuel.
“Funds for public investment are coming from resources such as excise duty on petrol and diesel.public investment has become the foundation of growth at a time when private investment is low. Cutting those investments would mean cutting down allocations for social sector and infrastructure schemes,” he said.