Senior leaders of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) party on Saturday called on Tamil Nadu Governor Rajendra Arlikar and pressed for action against Tamil Nadu Governor Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) over “horse trading”, senior party leader Agri SS Krishnamurthy said.
Krishnamurthy who is AIADMK whip in the Assembly accompanied by MP Dhanapal called Arlekar at Lok Bhavan and submitted a memorandum seeking action against the ruling TVK for allegedly being involved in “horse trading” as four sitting legislators who had won from an AIADMK ticket switched to TVK.
“In order to prevent the government from buying the AIADMK MLAs, party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami filed a complaint with the governor for action against them. MP Dhanapal and I directly handed over the petition to the governor. We urged him (the governor) to take immediate action,” the statement said. Krishnamurthy said.
“Edappadiyar (general secretary of AIADMK) has specifically mentioned in the petition that they have converted the secretariat into a TVK party office. We have come to urge the governor that appropriate action should be taken,” he said.
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Last week, four AIADMK MLAs – former minister and Ambasamudram MLA Esakki Subaya, Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam), S Jayakumar (Perundurai) and P Sathyabama (Dharapuram) tendered their resignation from their position as legislators and formally joined the ruling TVK. After their resignation, the Election Commission announced that the council seats were vacant.
Political discord in the party came to light, after 25 legislators of the AIADMK led by C Ve Shanmugam and the SP Velumani faction voted for the TVK government during the floor test on May 13, while 22 MLAs led by Edappadi K Palaniswami opposed it. Four MLAs out of 25 resigned to join TVK.
On Wednesday, the two factions reconciled their differences and withdrew the disqualification petitions against each other with Assembly Speaker J C D Prabhakar.
The party alleged that the TVK government was involved in “horse trading” and urged the government to intervene.
The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) termed the MLAs’ resignation as “horse trading at the speed of a horse”.
“These people who portrayed themselves as a clean force have now been exposed and become a tragic force.” DMK chief MK Stalin said.
