Chennai, Sept. 18: Tamil Nadu Speaker P. Dhanapal today disqualified 18 MLAs of the ruling AIADMK's T.T.V. Dinakaran faction under anti-defection rules, a decision that could help chief minister and rival E.K. Palanisamy breeze through a trust vote.
The move that triggered a constitutional crisis and a political storm came two days before a Madras High Court decision on whether Palanisamy should face a floor test.
Dhanapal's decision revived memories of 1988when then Speaker P.H. Pandian had disqualified 33 MLAs belonging of the Jayalalithaa faction and declared then chief minister Janaki MGR as having won a trust vote with 97 MLAs, lower than the majority mark.
After the untimely demise of Jayalalithaa in December last year, the total strength of the AIADMK in the Assembly has come down to 135. Excluding Dhanapal, the number is 134. With the disqualification of 18 MLAs, its current strength is only 116. Of them, Palanisamy has the support of 114 MLAs.
With today's 18 disqualifications, the number of members in the House has come down to 215. Palanisamy now needs the support of just 108 MLAs, excluding the Speaker, to prove his majority. In the absence of the disqualifications, the chief minister would have needed 117 MLAs. Opposition DMK has 89 MLAs and its allies Congress and Indian Union Muslim League have eight and one respectively.
Assembly secretary K. Boopathy said since the Speaker had disqualified them under Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly (Disqualification on Ground of Defection) Rules, 1986, the 18 MLAs have lost their posts. While most Opposition parties dubbed the action of the Speaker "unconstitutional, and anti-democratic", the affected MLAs have moved the high court for early redress.
Only last week, lawyer and Congress leader Kapil Sibal, who appeared for the DMK, told the court he feared the Speaker could disqualify 21 DMK legislators pulled up by the privileges panelof the Assembly and the 18 Dinakaran loyalists to help Palanisamy. The state's top lawyer had then declined to give any assurance. "I can't say there would be no action against the MLAs," the lawyer had told the court.
The court then ruled that the floor test should not be conducted before September 20. The MLAs disqualified today had withdrawn their support to Palanisamy, telling the governor they had no confidence in him and accusing the chief minister of being corrupt.
Though they had been sent showcause notices twice and given time till September 14 to explain their stand in person to the Speaker, they did not turn up. Dinakaran, who had kept the 18 legislators at a resort, and the Opposition DMK have told the court that the Palanisamy government has been reduced to a minority after the rebel lawmakers submitted letters to the governor withdrawing their support to the chief minister.
The Dinakaran loyalists and the Opposition parties contended that the action of the 18 MLAs would not attract the anti-defection law as they "have not defected to any other party, not defied the party whip or indulged in anti-party activities."
"We still continue to be members of the AIADMK and all we want is a change of chief minister Palanisamy per se," the 18 legislators had said in a letter to governor C. Vidyasagar Rao.
But the Palanisamy camp asserts that their demand for a change in leadership itself amounted to an anti-party activity and, hence, is a fit case for disqualification.
P. Vetrivel, an MLA from the Dinakaran camp, said about today's disqualification: "They are trying to show majority through a short-cut. We will take a legal route and surely get the Palanisamy government dissolved."
According to political analysts, the DMK could use this opportunity to precipitateelections, four years ahead of schedule. If a certain number of its MLAs resign, the Assembly will have to be dissolved and fresh polls conducted within six months.
If that happens, the DMK will fancy its chances because after Jayalalithaa's death, the AIADMK has seen months of infighting, its former general secretary Sasikala jailed in an assets case and Dinakaran himself jailed for alleged bribery before being released on bail. DMK leader Stalin has convened a meeting of party MLAs tomorrow.
The disqualification move is a setback for Dinakaran after Palanisamy and O. Panneerselvam merged their factions. Earlier this month, both Dinakaran and his aunt Sasikala were removed as AIADMK deputy general secretary and general secretary respectively at a general council meeting of the party.
