JOIN USTamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal on Thursday issued notices to the 19 MLAs, who are supporting T T V Dhinakaran, asking why action should not be taken against them under the anti-defection law.
The show-cause notice follows a letter written by ruling AIADMK chief whip S Rajendran, seeking disqualification of the legislators as they had handed over letters to Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao withdrawing their support to the Palaniswami government. The Speaker has asked them to reply within a week.
In his letter to the Speaker, Rajendran said, “since they have subjected themselves to lose their posts, they attracted the provisions under this law (anti-defection act) as per the 10th schedule of the Constitution”.
The AIADMK whip also sought action against them under Rule 6 of the Tamil Nadu Assembly that disqualifies a member for anti-party activities under the anti-defection law.
“They (19 MLAs) had not informed me that they were meeting the Governor. They have acted against the interest of the party,” Rajendran told reporters after handing over the letter to Dhanapal at the Secretariat. “The Speaker has to take the final call,” he added.
Stating that the Dhinakaran faction would take legal recourse against Dhanapal’s notice, the MLA said that the ruling party is using the anti-defection law only to threaten the group. “The move to use the anti-defection law is to threaten us and prevent other MLAs from joining our faction,” he said.