Evicted From Assembly, MK Stalin And His Lawmakers Block Traffic

Chennai: Opposition leader MK Stalin and lawmakers from his party, the DMK, were detained together after they blocked traffic on a road outside the legislature after being evicted from the building.

Mr Stalin wanted the legislature to urgently discuss a "sting" aired recently on private TV channels that shows some members of the ruling party, the AIADMK, discussing how much money they were offered for a crucial trust vote in February that allowed E Palaniswami to remain Chief Minister.  

NDTV cannot verify the authenticity of the video.

Mr Stalin and his party held up placards that declared "Sale of MLAs". Their request for a discussion was refused by the Speaker who said the issue is being reviewed by the Madras High Court as demanded by the opposition leader.

One of the men who was secretly filmed says his footage has been doctored - he claims it's him on camera, but he's been dubbed.

The DMK has 89 of 234 members in the Tamil Nadu legislature.

Tamil Nadu's ruling party has been roiled by controversy and churn since December when its powerful leader J Jayalalithaa died while she was Chief Minister. O Panneerselvam, her understudy, filled in for her upon the direction of her live-in aide, VK Sasikala, who just weeks later asked him to resign so she could head the government. Mr Panneerselvam revolted and Ms Sasikala'a ambition was stymied by the Supreme Court ordering her to jail in a corruption case.

Before her incarceration, she installed her loyalist E Palaniswami as Chief Minister. That move involved quaranting the majority of the AIADMK's legislators at a posh resort for nearly a week so that they could not be influenced by Mr Panneerselvam. The new "sting" has lawmakers discussing how many crores they were paid for backing Mr Palaniswami when he won his trust vote.

The Chief Minister and Mr Paneerselvam have talked of wanting to reconcile their rival factions, but the initiative has collapsed, reportedly because both men want to be Chief Minister.

The "sting" shows two lawmakers, one each from the competing factions, claiming that their leaders were willing to buy support.