The 19 dissident AIADMK MLAs, who were issued show-cause notices by Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal directing them to appear before him on September 7, on Tuesday sought 15 days’ more time to respond. A plea was submitted to Assembly Secretary on behalf of the rebel MLAs in the Secretariat on Tuesday.
“We had already given our reply to the original show-cause notices issued. Again, notices were issued for our appearance on September 7. But notices were not issued to us properly and we have sought for 15 days’ time to submit our response,” Andipatti MLA Thangatamilselvan told reporters here.
As for the AIADMK MLAs’ meeting held at the party head office on Tuesday under the Chief Minister’s leadership, Mr. Thangatamilselvan said, “They only have 113 MLAs. Is that a majority?”
Criticising Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami for acting hastily only to show the general public that he had the support of only 113 MLAs, the Andipatti MLA along with Perambur MLA P. Vetrivel said, “Now, it is you who have lost majority!” Even the count of MLAs supporting the Chief Minister included (MLAs belonging to) “sleeper cells” who owe allegiance to sidelined leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran. “Our only demand is that the Chief Minister should be replaced,” Mr Thangatamilselvan insisted.
Replying to a query on the Governor’s reported observation that the ongoing dispute was only an intra-party affair of the AIADMK, he said, “The Governor cannot easily say so and ignore it. He should call the Chief Minister and insist on a floor test. If the Governor doesn’t act within two days, we will discuss with our deputy general secretary (Dhinakaran) and plan the next course of action.”
The dissident MLAs also called on Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan and alleged that broadcast of Jaya TV (which was once considered the mouthpiece of the AIADMK) was being blacked out in various places including the Secretariat.