We Are Coming Back In Power, Say Top Sources In Stalin's DMK

New Delhi: Main opposition DMK senses its best chance to make a comeback in Tamil Nadu, with top sources in the party saying they are confident the E Palaniswami government will not last long. Passing the Budget will be a tough task for the new AIADMK chief minister, they said, alleging that his hold over legislators of his party remains tenuous despite having won a trust vote last weekend.

DMK's working President MK Stalin has challenged the way the trust vote was conducted, with the Speaker of the state legislature evicting his party before holding the vote. Only members of rival camps in the AIADMK voted with the Congress walking out in protest against the eviction of the DMK legislators.

"The AIADMK government is on a thin majority. Even around 10 MLAs voting against the Budget will mean that the government is out," a top DMK leader said. If a government fails to pass a Budget in the assembly or in parliament, it immediately falls.
 The leader alleged that at least 30 AIADMK legislators have been in touch with the DMK. "Even when the Sasikala camp kept their MLAs at Koovathur resort, around 30 MLAs were ready to support us.  We could have formed government. But we didn't want any backdoor entry to the government. People are upset with the Palaniswami government, it is a benami government."

Mr Palaniswami is seen as a proxy for AIADMK chief VK Sasikala whose ambition to be the next chief minister of Tamil Nadu was crushed by the Supreme Court when it convicted her in a corruption case and sent her to a Bengaluru jail. The man who she planned to replace, O Panneerselvam, challenged her bid for the top post and also that of Mr Palaniswami from her camp, but only 11 AIADMK legislators voted against the chief minister in the trust vote.

Mr Panneerselvam had alleged that they were under duress and were held captive by Ms Sasikala for over nine days at a five star resort near Chennai.

Mr Palaniswami needed 117 ayes in the 234-member Assembly. He got 122, the Speaker P Dhanapal declared, a slim five votes more than majority.
 MK Stalin met President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday and sought his intervention on the violence in Tamil Nadu assembly on the day of the trust vote. Evicted for violence in the Assembly, Mr Stalin has alleged that it was him and his MLAs who were beaten up, emerging dramatically with his shirt unbuttoned and his pocket torn. The DMK's legislators had pushed the Speaker and broken chairs and tables in protest against his no to secret voting.

The DMK says that the AIADMK was re-elected in assembly elections last year only because of the popularity of its powerful matriarch J Jayalalithaa who died in December last year as chief minister.

The victory was smaller than five years ago, with the DMK winning 97 seats along with ally Congress to the AIADMK's 136.

The party reckons that without Ms Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK will find it difficult to win again if fresh elections are held.