Chief Minister E Palaniswami and O Panneerselvam recently got united in the AIADMK (File)
Tamil Nadu Advocate General Vijay Narayan today told the Madras High Court that the revolt by 19 AIADMK legislators against Chief Minister E Palaniswami was an "intra-party affair" and the governor could not interfere in it. He made the submission while arguing on the maintainability of a public interest litigation, which sought a direction to the governor to order a floor test in the assembly.
When the matter came up before the first bench, comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sunder, the Advocate General, who appeared on behalf of the Governor, said the letters given by the 19 MLAs were not against the government, but "only against the person who is the current chief minister".
He also contended that it was an intra-party affair and hence, the Governor could not interfere in it. He said a situation for the government to prove its majority in the house had not arrived and added that he would like to argue on the maintainability of the petition, following which the court adjourned the matter to October 3.
The petitioner, Pugazhenthi, who is a lawyer, had filed the plea citing the latest political development in the AIADMK -- 19 of its 122 MLAs writing to Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao on August 22 and stating that they did not have confidence in the chief minister.
Earlier, the petitioner's counsel contended that the Governor was bound to direct a floor test in the assembly in view of the stand taken by the 19 MLAs. Claiming that the legislators had given individual letters to the Governor, the petitioner argued that Mr Rao had "unfortunately" not taken any steps to conduct the floor test.
The governor had also received a letter from leader of opposition in the assembly MK Stalin (of the DMK), with a request to uphold constitutional norms by directing the chief minister to prove his government's majority.