AIADMK alleges horse trading as 3 rebel MLAs join Vijay's party

The MLAs belonged to the rebel camp led by senior AIADMK leaders C Ve Shanmugam and S P Velumani.

The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam suffered another blow on Monday when three of its party legislators belonging to the rebel group led by senior leaders C Ve Shanmugam and S P Velumani resigned and joined the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam, prompting 'horse-trading' charges from the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and AIADMK.

The ruling party dismissed the charges, even as the three MLAs insisted that they joined the TVK on their own accord and hailed Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay for his pro-women initiatives like late CM J Jayalalithaa.

AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami lashed out at the 'fraud jobs' of the TVK government and said such things were new to Tamil Nadu politics.

He called the resignation episode a 'pre-planned conspiracy'.

DMK president M K Stalin also lashed out at the TVK for 'horse-trading'.

The development comes weeks after the AIADMK lost the April 23 polls, the fourth major electoral drubbing since 2019.

Its MLAs have split into two groups, each supporting party general secretary Palaniswami and the Shanmugam-Velumani duo.

The two camps took divergent positions on the TVK government's floor test, with the Palaniswami faction voting against it and the 25-member group on the other side backing the Vijay-led government which won the confidence vote.

With Speaker J C D Prabhakar accepting the resignation of the three MLAs, the strength of the AIADMK has dropped to 44 from 47 in the 234-member Assembly.

Maragatham Kumaravel won from Maduranthakam, P Sathyabama from Dharapuram, and S Jayakumar got elected from Perundurai Assembly constituency -- on AIADMK tickets.

Five MLAs Return To Palaniswami Camp

Soon after meeting the Speaker in the secretariat, the three legislators met senior TVK leader and PWD minister Aadhav Arjuna in his chamber.

Later, after joining the TVK in the presence of its general secretary and state minister N Anand, Kumaravel said after the Assembly election results, the AIADMK took a dual stand to form government with DMK and extend support to the TVK.

"We did not wish to forge ties with DMK. About 30 MLAs under former state minister Shanmugam opposed AIADMK entering into an alliance with the DMK and took a stand to extend support to TVK. But we did not leave the party then," she told reporters along with Sathyabama and Jayakumar.

"We decided to join TVK on our own accord as we did not like AIADMK aligning with the DMK. Our stand is personal, taken for our self-respect and in the interest of the people of our constituencies and not for selfish reasons," she added.

Meanwhile, in some sort of a boost for Palaniswami, five MLAs from the Shanmugam-Velumani camp returned to his camp.

The three MLAs who quit were among the 25 AIADMK legislators who voted in support of the Vijay-led TVK government during the May 13 floor test, defying the party diktat.

With the Speaker accepting the resignations, Tamil Nadu will witness byelections to four Assembly constituencies including the Tiruchirappalli East vacated by Vijay.

Speaker Prabhakar told reporters that the three AIADMK MLAs' resignation was accepted since they were in proper format, as per laid down procedures.

The resignation and split in the AIADMK has come within 21 days of declaration of Assembly election results.

Post poll, this is a major jolt for the AIADMK.

The DMK too has suffered a setback with its allies the Congress, the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi and the Indian Union Muslim League joining the TVK government and the Left parties extending their support to the Vijay-led dispensation.

Amidst a speculation of a rapprochement between the AIADMK factions, the five legislators who had supported Shanmugam, called on Palaniswami at his Greenways Road residence here and merged themselves with the party.

With this, the number of Palaniswami-supporting MLAs in the Assembly has risen to 27.

The legislators who left the Velumani camp included S M Sukumar (Arcot).

Palaniswami Calls it 'Pre-planned Conspiracy'

With three resignations and five MLAs going back to the Palaniswami camp, the strength of the rebel side has now reduced to 17, from 25.

Later, the group met Prabhakar and submitted a letter stating that they would function under the leadership of Palaniswami.

"We gave a letter to our general secretary expressing regrets over some mistakes during the floor test in the Assembly. We said all five of us will function under his leadership and returned to the AIADMK," Sukumar said.

Strongly condemning the three MLAs for resigning and joining the TVK, Palaniswami described the day's events at the state Secretariat as 'resignation at the ground floor and party membership at the first floor'.

"The fact that the resignation letters were received from the three MLAs, who won through the hard work and sacrifice of the AIADMK, in the Speaker's Chamber on the ground floor, and within the next 10 minutes, the party membership cards being handed over to them in TVK minister's room on the first floor, has exposed a preplanned staged conspiracy and horse-trading," the AIADMK general secretary said in a statement in Chennai.

The party has seen many such 'treacherous acts and backstabbing incidents', and no one can shake the AIADMK, Palaniswami said.

Horse-trading at Horse Speed: Stalin

Wondering if the people voted for the TVK to indulge in 'horse-trading' at 'horse speed', Stalin, in a post on X said that the TVK first sought the support of the DMK allies to form government, made a section of AIADMK legislators vote in its favour during the floor test, and made AIADMK MLAs resign and enrolled them into its fold.

Stalin slammed the ruling party, saying, "The TVK has now exposed itself as not being the pure force it had self-trumpeted."

He also flayed the Congress for 'continuing to enjoy the scenes unfolding now', after extending its support to the TVK government.

Taking strong exception to Stalin for his remark, Aadhav Arjuna said since the DMK chief lost from Kolathur constituency he has been claiming that the DMK lost the elections because of social media.

"He has been avoiding mentioning our leader Vijay's name and carrying out a false propaganda as he had done before the elections," Arjuna said and added that both the DMK and AIADMK along with the Bharatiya Janata Party planned to make Palaniswami chief minister.