The Aaya Ram Gaya Ram phenomenon continued to haunt the Government led by Edappadi Palaniswami on Thursday. While the Government was short of seven MlAs to cross the magic figure of 117 in the 233 strong House, rebel leader TTV Dinakaran accompanied by three MlAs and seven MPs called on Governor C Vidyasagar Rao and requested him to ask the Chief Minister to call for a trust vote.
Interestingly, the day saw Karunaas, an MlA who had declared support to the Chief Minister earlier this week jumped fence on Thursday morning and announced that he was with the Dinakaran camp. On the other side, the Palaniswami faction got a shot in the arm when Jackaiyan, MlA, who was with Dinakaran till Wednesday night crossed over to Palaniswami’s camp by Thursday morning.
Coming out of Raj Bhavan, Dinakaran told reporters that he was confident that the Governor would take a wise decision in the coming days. “The Governor gave us a patient hearing and assured us that he would take a good decision in the coming days itself,” said Dinakaran.
The AIADMK deputy general secretary also said that he was against toppling the Government installed by late J Jayalalithaa. “We want the traitors Edappadi Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam to be ousted from the Government. There is no compromise on this demand of ours,” said Dinakaran. He said that the Palaniswami Government was in a minority and should resign at the earliest.
Dinakaran, hitherto cautious in criticising the BJP, threw to the winds all inhibitions and lambasted the saffron party for the imbroglio in Tamil Nadu and the NEET controversy. He alleged that the BJP was the force guiding OPS and EPS which has resulted in the AIADMK getting split and weak.
In another development, the DMK has sought time to call on the Governor for Sunday. This is the second such meeting between the DMK leaders and the Governor. The DMK, the principal opposition party wants the Governor to convene the Assembly session so that the party could move a no-confidence motion against the Government. Chief Minister Palaniswami, made it known for the first time that there was an attempt to topple his Government by Dinakaran with the support of the DMK. Addressing a rally at Erode late Wednesday night, Palaniswami said that efforts by Dinakaran and the DMK would not succeed.
Meanwhile Christian Medical College Vellore, a premier medical college in South India, suspended admission to MBBS and post graduate courses for the academic year 2017 -2018 in protest against the decision to make NEET mandatory for admission. The CMC has its own admission process which the minority run institution does not want to lose. The decision of the management means the total number of MBBS seats available in Tamil Nadu would fall by 100.
The politics behind NEET and suicide by Anita came out in the open with Shanmugam, father of the deceased refusing to accept the solatium of Rs 7 lakh announced by the Tamil Nadu Government even as he accepted the Rs 10 lakh compensation declared by M K Stalin, the DMK working president.