Chief Government Whip S. Rajendran on Friday submitted his recommendation to Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal seeking action against three dissident AIADMK MLAs for “anti-party activities”. The MLAs — E. Rathinasabapathy (Aranthangi), V.T. Kalaiselvan (Vridhachalam) and A. Prabhu (Kallakurichi) — have been extending support to Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran for the past few months.
The three MLAs have been indulging in anti-party activities that visual evidence showing them in close proximity with Mr. Dhinakaran, have been submitted to the Speaker for taking appropriate action, Mr. Rajendran told reporters here. “The Speaker will take legal action against them,” he added.
When asked why the action now since they have been siding with Mr. Dhinakaran for quite some time now, Mr. Rajendran said he had collected some evidence for his claims. To a query on whether there were any one else against whom the party was contemplating action, he said: “As of now, only these three.”
Replying to a query on whether the AIADMK was doubtful of its success in the elections and hence the decision to act against dissidents, Mr. Rajendran rejected the speculation and asserted that his party would win all seats. Based on the recommendation, Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal is likely to issue show cause notices to the MLAs seeking a reply as to why they should not be acted against.
It was based on Mr. Rajendran’s recommendation in 2017, the Speaker had in September that year disqualified 18 AIADMK MLAs for dissidence.
In the recent general elections and by-polls to 18 Assembly constituencies, some of these MLAs had reportedly campaigned for the AMMK. While Mr. Rathinasabapathy and Mr. Kalaiselvan extended support to Mr. Dhinakaran as early as August 2017, Mr. Prabhu sided with the AMMK general secretary in February last year.
The current strength of the Tamil Nadu Assembly is 212 with the AIADMK having 114 members (including the Speaker), DMK – 88, Congress – 8, IUML – 1 and Independent – 1. Besides the by-polls to 18 seats, on May 19 polling will be held in four more Assembly constituencies.
