Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 27: Even though its strength has fallen from 47 to 43 following the resignation from the Tamil Nadu Assembly by four of its members, the rival factions of the AIADMK are claimed to have “reunited” and to henceforth function as one composite unit.
Nearly two weeks after the vertical split with the faction led by former minister SP Velumani extending support to the Tamilaga Vettri Kazagham (TVK) government headed by chief minister C Joseph Vijay much to the chagrin of the party headed by general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami, the two factions buried the hatchet and arrived at a truce on Wednesday.
The rebel MLAs headed by Mr Velumani also presented letters to the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly J.C.D. Prabhakar at the Secretariat, seeking condonation of their conduct of voting contrary to the direction issued by party whip Agri S.S. Krishnamurthy during the vote of confidence in the Vijay-led government in the Assembly on May 13.
Once regarded as a close aide of Palaniswami, Velumani said the AIADMK chief had agreed to examine their demand for a phased review of the party’s electoral performance and the reasons for the defeat. “We are in the AIADMK, and following the appeal of our general secretary, the party will continue to function as a united and strong force,” he said.
The Speaker, while speaking to journalists, confirmed the receipt of the letters from the AIADMK MLAs. He said he would go through the petitions submitted earlier and those submitted on Wednesday, and announce his decision.
Speaking to reporters after meeting Mr Prabhakar, Mr Velumani said both factions had withdrawn the previous petitions presented separately to the Speaker seeking the disqualification of the legislators of the other group.
It all began with the vertical split of the AIADMK Legislature Party during the vote of confidence in the Assembly on May 13. A group of 25 rebel legislators headed by Mr Velumani voted in favour of the motion of confidence, while 22 MLAs headed by Mr Palaniswami voted against it.
Following the split, both factions submitted petitions to the Speaker seeking disqualification of the MLAs of the other group. Meanwhile, four MLAs from the Mr Velumani faction resigned as MLAs and later joined the TVK, while six others switched their loyalties and returned to Palaniswami camp.
With this series of resignations and switching sides, the strength of the rebel camp was reduced from 25 to 15. On Wednesday, both factions arrived at a truce. Barring senior functionary C.Ve. Shanmugam, all the rebel MLAs met the Speaker.
Mr Velumani said, “There was no division or split among us. We only had some differences of opinion. We have urged the general secretary [Mr Palaniswami] to constitute a committee to introspect on the electoral defeats faced by the party. He said he would take it up step by step.”
The former Minister also said there had been various claims that the 25 AIADMK MLAs voted in favour of the TVK government in return for Ministerial berths and other posts. “We did not ask for any posts. They [TVK] also made it clear that no such arrangement was made.” To a question about Mr Shanmugam not joining them during their meeting with the Speaker, Mr Velumani said “He is also with all of us.”
Earlier in the day, most of the rebel MLAs, including Mr Velumani, called on Mr Palaniswami at his residence in Chennai. However, Mr Shanmugam and C. Vijayabaskar did not accompany them.
Notably, Shanmugam was nowhere to be seen in the meeting, but Velumani stressed that he, too, was supporting them. “We came from Shanmugam’s office before meeting Palaniswami. We are all together,” Velumani said. “There is no split in the AIADMK as portrayed in the media. There were only differences of opinion, and those issues have now been resolved,” Velumani said.
