Palaniswami has right to appoint whip: AIADMK MLA

AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami has the right to appoint a whip for the Assembly, said MLA Thalavai Sundaram on Wednesday.

His remarks came hours after rebel AIADMK leaders, led by MLAs C Ve Shanmugam and SP Velumani, asked Palaniswami to show a copy of the resolution of the meeting held to elect the whip.

As per the tenth schedule of the Constitution, Palaniswami has the right to appoint a whip, Sundaram said and showed a Constitution document for reference, while speaking to reporters.

“Just go through it,” he said, and added that it provides the provision to appoint a whip by the party leader.

The split in the AIADMK came into the open during the trust vote proceedings as the faction of 25 MLAs led by party leaders Velumani-Shanmugam voted in favour of the Vijay-led Government.

The AIADMK won 47 seats in the recently held Assembly elections.

Sundaram claimed that the anti-defection law will apply against the rebel AIADMK MLAs.

AIADMK leader and advocate IS Inabadurai said a complaint letter has been given to the Speaker to disqualify the rebel party MLAs, who voted for TVK during the floor test.

“Though the Speaker was not available to receive the complaint, we have given it to the Assembly secretary, who promised to pass it to the Speaker,” told reporters.

Palaniswami earlier in the day claimed that as general secretary of the party, he had the right to appoint the whip. The whip, Agri SS Krishanmurthy, had informed all the MLAs through SMS, e-mail and registered post that the party will vote against the Government in the floor test, he claimed.

Asked if he would seek legal action against those who did not vote by the party’s diktat, he said, “Wait and watch.”

The cross-voting by 25 AIADMK rebel MLAs on Wednesday caused the TVK Government to significantly improve its tally to 144 in the Assembly.