Chennai, August 12 (The Hindu): A day after the merger of the two main factions of the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazaham ( AIADMK) in Tamil Nadu, 19 MLAs owing allegiance to ”ousted” Deputy General Secretary, T.T.V. Dhinakaran, on Tuesday submitted letters to Governor Ch.Vidyasagar Rao expressing lack of confidence in Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and their withdrawing support to him.
As things stand now, the Palaniswami faction falls short of a simple majority by one seat.
In the identical letters submitted to the Governor, the MLAs stated that the Chief Minister has “forfeited” their confidence and that of the public and hence they were withdrawing their support to him. They urged the Governor to “intervene and institute the constitutional process”.
The Governor received our letters and said he would :take action”, one of the 19 MLAs told The Hindu.
However ,the Governor later left for Mumbai, sources in the Raj Bhavan said.
Andipatti MLA Thangatamilselvan, addressing the media outside Dhinakaran’s residence in Adyar in Chennai, said: “Our aim is to bring about a no-confidence motion against the Chief Minister. You will have to wait and see how we will change the Chief Minister.”
Sources in the Dhinakaran camp said that they were totally against the way in which the merger was made without consulting them.
“It was because of Panneerselvam that we lost our Two Leaves symbol,” they said.
(The featured picture at the top shows Andipatti MLA Thangatamilchelvan, one of the 19 pro-Dinakaran rebels)