AIADMK interim general secretary and Leader of Opposition in Tamil Nadu Assembly Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday accused Chief Minister M.K. Stalin of trying to destroy his party with the help of ousted leader O. Panneerselvam.
Palaniswami and other opposition MLAs supporting him staged a hunger strike near Valluvar Kottam in Chennai protesting against Assembly Speaker Appavu for not changing the seating arrangements in the house. The leaders were detained and taken in a bus to Rajarathinam stadium, as the protest was allegedly held without police permission.
“Stalin is not able to take on the AIADMK politically. So he is using OPS to defeat us. After the Assembly proceedings on Tuesday, both OPS and Stalin spoke for half an hour. OPS entered the AIADMK headquarters and created a ruckus on Stalin’s advice,” Palaniswami alleged.
Clad in black shirts and white dhothis, Palaniswami and his fellow MLAs, including former ministers R. Kamaraj, S.P. Velumani, K.A. Sengottaiyan and Udumalai Radhakrishnan, accused Stalin of “murdering the democracy”, and raised slogans against the ruling DMK. They criticised the speaker for not taking action based on the representation given by their party and asked him to save the honour of the assembly.
“We will continue to protest till we get justice,” Palaniswami told reporters.
Asked about the speaker's claim that the AIADMK leadership dispute case is pending in the court, the former CM said that the Madras High Court had delivered the verdict in favour of his camp.
“The court had recognised the decision taken in the general council meeting to remove Panneerselvam and others supporting him. We have provided all evidence to the speaker but no action has been taken,” Palaniswami alleged. He also accused CM Stalin of using the police force to stifle and silence the voice of the opposition.
“It is a brutal murder of democracy. The law and order has completely deteriorated. Without looking into it, he is using the police force to silence us,” he said and further alleged that the speaker was acting in favour of OPS with the support of Stalin.
The speaker has not recognised R.B. Udhayakumar, the EPS choice, as the Deputy Leader of Opposition, though the AIADMK had submitted a petition well in advance of the winter session. The speaker also did not give permission to change the seating arrangements in the house, as requested by the EPS camp. Protesting this, MLAs in the EPS camp created ruckus in the Assembly on Tuesday and were evicted from the house.
Explaining that the request made by Palaniswami is under consideration, Appavu said: “As per the rules, there is no post called Deputy Leader of Opposition. Only the Leader of the Opposition is recognised as per the Constitution. As such, there is no need for the speaker to recognise someone as the Deputy Leader of Opposition. The members also cannot insist the speaker appoint someone as the member of the Business Advisory committee.”
Appavu also blamed the AIADMK MLAs for disruption the proceedings in the house.
