AIADMK crisis: Rebel group seek disqualification of EPS and supporters for voting against TVK

On the other side, MLAs owing allegiance to faction headed by EPS also met Speaker and demanded that Palaniswami be recognised as the leader of legislature party.

Chennai: Upping their ante notwithstanding their removal from party positions, the rebel AIADMK group led by S P Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam on Thursday petitioned Speaker J C D Prabhakar seeking the disqualification of 22 MLAs, including general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, for going against the “party whip” in the Assembly. 

The rebel group also said the actions of Palaniswami sacking the MLAs from their party positions were not tenable due to the crisis in the AIADMK, while reiterating that they were not willing to break away from the party but want it to emerge stronger. 

On the other side, MLAs owing allegiance to the faction headed by EPS also met Speaker and demanded that Palaniswami be recognised as the leader of the AIADMK legislature party as he was duly elected by the MLAs at a meeting last week. However, the group did not seek the disqualification of the 25 MLAs who voted in favour of the TVK government led by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, despite EPS saying they should vote against. 

EPS, who cracked the whip on the MLAs by removing them from party positions, maintained that his actions were only aimed at strengthening the party. He also accused the rebel MLAs of being “power-hungry” and asked the cadres to join him in defeating their plans. 

“AIADMK functionaries must be careful. They should not fall into the trap of the former ministers. I am ready to make any sacrifice to ensure the success of the party,” he said. 

Former minister C Vijayabaskar, who has been appointed as the “whip” of the rebel group, met the Speaker and sought the disqualification of the 22 AIADMK MLAs. 

"The Legislature Party's office-bearers are decided by the majority of MLAs. We have the support of 25 MLAs, and we have a majority. As the Whip of the Legislature Party, I had sent a directive to all 47 MLAs to vote in favour of the TVK government. But Palaniswami and 21 MLAs have not followed my directive. Hence, we have sought their disqualification,” he said. 

Velumani said Palaniswami should convene the General Council meeting as soon as possible to discuss the successive electoral defeats of the AIADMK thread bare. “None of his actions are valid. He should stop the action of removing leaders from party positions. He should pave the way for a matured discussion on the party’s loss,” Velumani said, adding that EPS  has no power to sack them. “The opposition to DMK is important and we should focus on that,” he added.