DMK moves HC against trust vote of Palaniswami
FIRST STEP New chief minister of TN pushes populist schemes promised by late AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa in 2016 poll manifesto
CHENNAI: The DMK party approached the Madras HC on Monday, demanding that chief minister EK Palaniswami’s trust vote in the assembly be declared null and void. The case will be heard on Tuesday. DMK working president MK Stalin announced that his party will launch a statewide hunger strike to protest the “illegal” trust vote.
CHENNAI:As a caretaker chief minister, O Panneerselvam never sat on the chair of chief minister J Jayalalithaa. But Edapaddi Palaniswami, who won the trust vote on Saturday, had no such qualms as he occupied the CM’s chambers on Monday and announced a slew of decisions to carry forward the late leader’s legacy.
His first task as chief minister was to sign five files, each launching a welfare measure promised by Jayalalithaa in the AIADMK election manifesto for the 2016 general elections in TN. Among them was an order to shut down 500 government –run wine shops.
This is the second instalment of closure of government-owned liquor outlets run by the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corpora- tion after Jayalalithaa issued the first closure order following her re-election in May 2016. Jayalalithaa took the decision on May 24 last year when she was sworn in as CM for a second term.
But Palaniswami insisted his most important of the five orders was the one about relief for farmers who are reeling under the worst drought in the state in over a century. “My first priority is drought relief. The assistance will reach the farmers at the earliest,” Palaniswami said, briefing media persons.
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu’s opposition party, the DMK, approached the Madras high court on Monday, demanding that chief minister EK Palaniswami’s trust vote in the state assembly be declared null and void. The case will be heard on Tuesday.
DMK working president MK Stalin on Saturday maintained that the trust vote was illegitimate as it was conducted without the Opposition.
Palaniswami won the floor test two days ago, with the Speaker throwing out opposition DMK members for violence.
An FIR was later lodged against Stalin, his party MLAs, MPs, and cadres for holding a protest at Marina beach, protesting an alleged attack on him and senior DMK legislators during the assembly proceedings. The DMK had demanded a secret ballot during the trust vote sought by Palaniswami, and come out in support of former chief minister O Panneerselvam. HTC