Sasikala may be ousted at meet today
BATTLE HEATS UP Rebel MLAs led by Dinakaran threaten violence
CHENNAI: The principal opposition party, the DMK, on Sunday upped the ante with a party delegation urging governor C Vidyasagar Rao for an immediate floor test even as rebel TTV Dinakaran weaned away one more MLA, taking the numbers to 21.
Chances of the war within AIADMK escalating brightened after the EPS-OPS combine convened an all-important meet of the AIADMK office bearers, MLAs, MPs on Monday where a resolution to unseat Sasikala could be passed. A senior party leader said there were chances of Sasikala’s ouster being formalised at the meet.
The rebel MLAs, gravitating towards Sasikala’s nephew and deputy general secretary, threatened violence if Sasikala was ousted. Dinakaran supporter Thanga Tamilselvan said that “there will be violence in the party office if such a resolution was passed”. This group of rebel MLAs has also given the governor a two-day deadline to take a decision on their demand of a trust vote as they had withdrawn support to chief minister Edapaddi Palanisami.
Dinakaran maintained that the “sleeper cells in AIADMK’ will get more active at an appropriate time. His MLAs continued to stay in Puducherry and will remain there for another week.
The opposition DMK, taking steps in tandem with the rebel group, called on the governor in a delegation led by its senior leader Durai Murugan and sought the immediate convening of the assembly for a floor test.
DMK working president MK Stalin, addressing a gathering at Thiruvarur, his father’s constituency, said, “If the governor does not convene a session immediately, the DMK will move the courts for justice. The government has lost legitimacy and has no right to stay in office even for a second.”
Rao has assured the DMK delegation that he would act in the best interests of the Constitution and only after examining all legal aspects of the situation. The DMK delegation spent 15 minutes with him. Stalin maintained that the AIADMK government would fall on its own. “The DMK has nothing to do with it,” he said, rebuffing allegations that his party was trying to grab power through the backdoor.
Prominent among the leaders Dinakaran ousted from party posts are Palanisami as Salem district chief, a position where Jayalalithaa had appointed him. On Saturday, Dinakaran carried out several sackings and appointments to the party posts. G Venkatachalam, a supporter of the CM, said, “Dinakaran did not have the power to remove anyone from anywhere. These appointments were made by Amma and so these would continue.”