All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) legislator Dr Isakhi Subbaiah, from the SP Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam faction of the party, who represents Ambasamudhram Assembly constituency, met Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar on Tuesday and tendered his resignation. He is the fourth MLA from the party to do so in two days.
He joined Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) following in the footsteps of his teammates Maragatham Kumaravel (Madurantakam Reserved), P Sathyabama (Dharapuram Reserved) and S Jayakumar (Perundurai) who submitted their resignations on Monday and were officially inducted into TVK.
After tendering his resignation, Subbaiah summoned ministers TVK N Anand and KA Sengottaiyan in the Secretariat and was formally inducted into the ruling party.
Sabaya presented shawls to the TVK ministers.
The AIADMK’s Edapaddi K Palaniswami (EPS) led faction and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) called the move “horse trading”.
The split in the AIADMK came to light in the assembly on May 13, when 25 MLAs from the C Ve Shanmugam-SP Velumani faction extended their support to the ruling TVK during the crucial floor test.
Read also: AIADMK cries ‘horse trade’ after 4th Tamil Nadu MLA resigns within 24 hours, seeking to join TVK
The AIADMK won 47 seats in the Assembly elections. The remaining 22 legislators remained with the EPS faction.
Sabaya, who has won Ambasamudram seat in Tirunelveli district three times, said he took the decision after hearing feedback from people in his constituency.
“My priority is only the people in my constituency. This action (resigning) has been taken keeping only their interest in mind. I have nothing to like or dislike personally. I have taken this decision for the sake of the people of my constituency,” Subaya said.
Asked whether he would visit the Prime Minister, he said: “Meeting the Prime Minister is neither a sin nor a bad thing. If I have the opportunity, I will meet the Prime Minister, who is ruling well today.”
DMK president MK Stalin said, “Those who presented themselves as a clean force (Thooya sakthi) have now been exposed. They have become a tragic force. TVK engineered the resignation of AIADMK MLAs and made them join the party in the secretariat itself.”
EPS called this “vulgar politics” and “horse trading” introduced by TVK.
On the ‘horse trading’ remark, Congress MP S Jothimani said the party cannot adopt different norms for Tamil Nadu and other states.
“As a party in the alliance, Congress will stand with Chief Minister Joseph Vijay to provide effective governance, but it cannot support all the measures decided by TVK,” the parliamentarian from Karur said.
“It would be wrong for anyone from Congress to justify such horse-trading. The number one weapon used by the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] “It was taken to weaken democracy…” she said.
“The Congress party can never take a dual stand of supporting quid pro quo in Tamil Nadu and opposing it outside the state. If Congress plays the role of a force that dilutes democracy, it will be a historic betrayal of Gandhi, Nehru and ideology,” she added.
