Clamour for floor test grows in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: Clamour for a floor test to ascertain legislator support for the current Edappadi K Palaniswami-led government in Tamil Nadu grew louder on Wednesday with the state Congress unit demanding that the chief minister prove his majority.

In a letter identical in content to the one sent by ally DMK to the governor on Tuesday, legislator KR Ramasamy who is also the leader of the Congress Legislative Party, said any delay in proving majority could lead to more chaos should the factions try to pull members from one another.

The demand for a floor test arrives a day after TTV Dhinakaran whisked away 19 legislators to a resort in the neighbouring Pondicherry.

On Wednesday, there were protests near the luxury resort demanding that the rebelling MLAs rejoin in the ranks of the O Panneerselvam-Palaniswami combine. Lawmaker VC Arukutty from Coimbatore exhorted the MLAs in Pondicherry through a press conference to return to the party. "At one point, you all might have to face the people," he told the legislators.

Meanwhile, TTV Dhinakaran continued with his slew of expulsions of party members and functionaries who had supported the chorus to remove the VK Sasikala family influence within the party. Having expelled Rajya Sabha MP R Vaithilingam yesterday, he announced the removal of Madurai North legislator Rajan Chellapa and revenue minister RB Udhayakumar. He also made changes in the party structure in Thanjavur district, installing his loyalists and expelling politicians apparently in support of the OPS-EPS combine. He relieved transport minister MR Vijayabhaskar from party posts in Karur district.

Even as the rebel MLAs allying with Dhinakaran stayed put in the resort in Pondicherry, they received words of support from Congress leader and legislator S Vijayadharini. She said: "It is known that these MLAs have spoken out against the central government. So, I do not find it wrong that they have been secured in Pondicherry," she told reporters.