CM, OPS meet guv, submit report on Assembly drama

A day after he won a crucial floor test in the Assembly, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami called on Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao on Sunday.

Though Raj Bhavan sources said it was a courtesy call, Palaniswami briefed the governor about the violence in the Assembly on Saturday, during which the Opposition DMK MLAs were evicted for creating a ruckus and stalling the proceedings.

Secretariat sources said Legislative Assembly secretary A M P Jamaludeen has also submitted a detailed report to Rao with regard to the floor test.

Soon after Palaniswami’s visit to the Raj Bhavan, rebel AIADMK leader and former chief minister O Panneerselvam met the governor and submitted a memorandum, seeking the trust vote won by Palaniswami be declared invalid.

Panneerselvam, who was accompanied by party MPs, also detailed the governor about the incidents in the House.

DMK working president M K Stalin, for his part, sent a petition to the governor, urging him to nullify the entire proceedings, which were held in the absence of the Opposition parties, to “protect the spirit of democracy and the Constitution”.

The petition, handed over by a delegation of DMK MPs, said that in 1988 when voting on the confidence motion was held by the Speaker with only two factions of the ruling party present in the House, it was declared invalid and void by the then governor.

Cases against Stalin

The Tamil Nadu Police have registered cases against Stalin, 63 MLAs, three MPs and several DMK workers on charges of staging protests near Marina Beach, defying the ban.

Stalin had staged a demonstration on Saturday evening, condemning the assault on him and other DMK MLAs during the confidence motion proceedings.

The DMK announced that it would observe a state-wide day-long fast on February 22 in protest against the eviction of its party MLAs.