AIADMK not to back no-confidence motion

The AIADMK, the third largest party in the Lok Sabha with 37 MPs, is unlikely to back the no-confidence motion against the Narendra Modi Government brought in by the Telugu Desam Party.

Giving enough indication of this, AIADMK co-coordinator and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, on Thursday told journalists that the no-confidence motion was being moved only for an issue concerning Andhra Pradesh.

“The motion is not being moved by the AIADMK. The TDP has moved the motion protesting the Centre's non-announcement of a special package for Andhra Pradesh. It does not concern Tamil Nadu in any way,” Palaniswami said in Salem district.

Though the AIADMK had recently crossed swords with the BJP after the latter's president Amit Shah alleged that Tamil Nadu figured amongst the most-corrupt States in the country, the party appears reluctant to rub the Modi Government on the wrong side. In fact it did not even give an appointment to a visiting TDP MP delegation earlier this week to talk on this issue. The delegation had had to return after meeting DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi.

The Chief Minister said when the AIADMK MPs had disrupted Parliament for 22 days seeking to highlight the State's demand to form the Cauvery Management Board, no MP or party outside Tamil Nadu had backed the “just demand” on an issue concerning the farmers. Now the TDP was seeking to highlight an issue pertaining to its State and not that of Tamil Nadu, he argued.

However, DMK working president M K Stalin said his party, which did not have a single MP in Lok Sabha, will extend “moral support” for the no-confidence motion. Accusing the Modi government of having converted democracy into a farce and undermining the plurality of the country, Stalin urged the AIADMK to vote in favour of the motion. He said the Central Government had not respected Tamil Nadu's sentiments on several issues and even ignored Assembly resolutions seeking exemption from NEET.