Served notice on defection, two AIADMK MLAs move Supreme Court

CHENNAI: Two AIADMK lawmakers deemed to have switched allegiance to TTV Dhinakaran have moved the Supreme Court seeking to prohibit Tamil Nadu Assembly speaker from acting on allegations of defection against them, exposing internal wrangles and hidden loyalities in the faction-ridden AIADMK over two years after J Jayalalithaa passed away.


The petition on Friday followed show-cause notices to three legislators E Rathinasabapathy, VT Kalaiselvan, and A Prabhu from the speaker a few days after the chief government whip S Rajendran had on April 26 recommended their disqualification for siding with Dhinakaran. The DMK has formally proposed a no-confidence motion against the speaker for the “partisan action” of issuing notices, comparing it with his inaction against O Panneerselvam and other lawmakers who voted against the AIADMK government in the February 2017 Trust Vote.


Arriving just ahead of elections, the action by the speaker could culminate in disqualifications, meaning fewer seats for the AIADMK to win in the bypolls to retain power in Assembly.

Aranthangi MLA E Rathinasabapathy and Vriddhachalam lawmaker VT Kalaiselvan had moved the apex court on Monday. “The court has posted the matter for hearing on May 6,” Rathinasabapathy told ET, adding that the requirement to respond to the speaker’s notice will not arise should the Supreme Court grant an interim relief in their suit.

Internal factionalism in the AIADMK has snowballed into the courtrooms again, months after Dhinakaran waged a year-long battle against the disqualification of the 18 lawmakers he pulled out after the O Panneerselvam and Edappadi Palaniswami factions merged in September 2017. After the Madras High Court upheld the disqualification of his loyalist MLAs, Dhinakaran has now registered his outfit as a political party. With no resolution of Dhinakaran's struggle for Jayalalithaa's legacy, his constant jockeying to win over AIADMK's lawmakers has weakened her party.