Tamil Nadu’s new Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay on Wednesday received a warning from one of his partners in the coalition government – the Communist Party of India (Maoist) – against absorbing rival AIADMK into the state government that was formed after days of struggling to get the required support after the Tamil Nadu Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) party won 108 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, 10 short of the majority mark.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretary P Shanmugam on Wednesday warned that the party would reconsider its support for the new Tamil Nadu government led by actor and politician C Joseph Vijay if the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is absorbed into the Cabinet.
“We strongly believe that the Prime Minister will not take such a decision. If he decides to include the AIADMK in the Cabinet, we will reconsider our support,” Shanmugam said, citing unease within sections of the coalition government.
What’s happening around AIADMK
The remarks come after a faction of the 47-seat winner AIADMK — which has 25 MLAs led by SP Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam — supported Vijay’s TVK ahead of the confidence vote on May 11. The remaining 22 MLAs of party president Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) opposed the floor test.
TVK emerged victorious in the Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu, 10 seats short of the majority needed to form the government. With the support of the Congress, Left parties, Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and Viduthalai Chiruthigal Katchi (VCK), it formed the government.
CM C Joseph Vijay won the vote of confidence in the state assembly on Wednesday with the support of 144 MLAs, including legislators from his party TVK. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), VCK, Communist Party of India (CPI), CPI(M), and Congress, taking TVK’s tally to 117, the mark required to prove a majority.
Internal discord within the AIADMK improved Vijay’s tally in the assembly.
The Left parties in Tamil Nadu have often opposed the AIADMK due to ideological differences, particularly their perceived closeness to the BJP and their support for some of the NDA’s policies at the Centre.
Meanwhile, rival factions of the AIADMK last week submitted petitions to Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar seeking to disqualify each other’s MLAs after the party split over extending support to the ruling TVK.
A delegation led by senior AIADMK leader KP Munusamy, who belongs to the faction headed by party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami, on Thursday met the Speaker of Parliament and later visited Lok Bhavan, the governor’s official residence, seeking the disqualification of 25 MLAs allied with leaders C Ve Shanmugham and SP Velumani.
The rival faction also met the Speaker and sought to disqualify 22 MLAs who support Palaniswami’s camp, an earlier HT report quoted a senior party leader as saying.
