Tamil Nadu bus strike: AIADMK govt faces DMK's heat

CHENNAI: Struggling to resolve a five-day bus strike, the Tamil Nadu Government faced twin hurdles in the state assembly on Monday, with its main opposition party, DMK questioning its majority on the floor. The DMK staged a walkout during the Governor’s address and newly elected legislator TTV Dhinakaran pointed out a slew of people-centric issues the Governor had not touched upon in his address.

Led by Opposition leader MK Stalin, DMK lawmakers and members of the Assembly from other parties protested against the continuation of the Edappadi K Palaniswami-O Panneerselvam regime. In a statement after walking out of the Assembly proceedings, Stalin said: “With the Election Commission declaring clearly that there are only 111 legislators in support of AIADMK, and 18 MLAs having withdrawn their support, it is remarkable in Indian history that the Governor and other agencies are allowing this government to stay in power…People are being made to suffer every day and the standing of Tamil Nadu in every industry is diminishing because of the continuance of this ‘minority’ government… and the Hon’ble Governor being a spectator also bears responsibility.”

Just under a year before, MK Stalin was removed while he protested against refusal to allow secret ballot in a chaotic Trust Vote that the Sasikala faction won, holding off a rebellious Panneerselvam. Edappadi K Palaniswami, then the stand-in for a convicted Sasikala, was made the CM.

After Dhinakaran pulled out 18 legislators from the Edappadi Palaniswami faction, two litigations followed: One against the disqualification of the 18 legislators who defected to Dhinakaran camp and one seeking directions to the Assembly Speaker to disqualify seven lawmakers for Panneerselvam for voting against the orders of the party Whip.

Raja Senthoorpandian, counsellor for Dhinakaran, said: “Our case challenging the disqualification could be taken up tomorrow (Tuesday).”

The government came under fire over a host of issues from lacklustre relief effort in the wake of the Ockhi cyclone, controversies around methane extraction around farmland, the bus strike and other concerns that Dhinakaran played up on his first day as a lawmaker. Speaking to reporters outside the Secretariat, Dhinakaran brought up his refrain of having silent sympathisers, “sleeper cells,” in the government that he would awaken to topple the government. A political analyst, requesting anonymity, said: “I believe all parties – the DMK, AIADMK and the BJP – are now tracking Rajinikanth to see the kind of force he would turn out to be. Until then, even the DMK would tread carefully in terms of wanting to topple the government.”