Chennai: AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Wednesday alleged in the Tamil Nadu Assembly that his party legislators were promised ministerial berths and top government positions in exchange for supporting the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government during the confidence vote.
The allegation came amid a dramatic split within the AIADMK legislature party during the trust vote faced by Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay’s government.
While 25 rebel AIADMK MLAs led by former minister S.P. Velumani voted in favour of the confidence motion, 22 legislators loyal to Palaniswami opposed the government.
Participating in the debate on the trust motion, Palaniswami said he had received information that attempts were being made to engineer defections through political inducements.
“Some of our MLAs were allegedly promised ministerial berths and positions as heads of boards and corporations to support the government. The Chief Minister has assured clean and transparent governance. I hope he will not deviate from that promise,” he said.
Palaniswami stressed that all 47 AIADMK MLAs were elected on the party’s iconic “Two Leaves” symbol after seeking votes in the names of party founders M.G. Ramachandran and former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
He said the electorate had voted believing that the AIADMK-led alliance would eventually form the government in the state.”In every political party, differences of opinion are natural. But it is not fair for the Chief Minister to seek support from one faction within another party. Such actions could create a dangerous precedent and encourage horse trading in Tamil Nadu politics,” Palaniswami told the Assembly.
The AIADMK leader also underlined that he continued to function as the party’s General Secretary and maintained that the mandate received by AIADMK candidates belonged to the party as a whole and not to any particular faction. The developments marked a major escalation in the internal power struggle within the AIADMK, which now appears sharply divided following the Assembly floor test. Amid the rebellion within the opposition party, the Vijay-led TVK government comfortably won the confidence motion in the 234-member Assembly.
(IANS)
