Chennai: Opposition DMK, Congress and IUML, which have a combined strength of 98 MLAs in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, on Sunday met Governor Ch Vidyasagar and demanded that he direct Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami to prove his majority on the floor of the House.
Opposition Leader M K Stalin, who could not meet the Governor as he was in Tiruvarur, said the party would be forced to knock at the doors of the judiciary if the Governor did not announce his decision in a "time-bound" manner.
A week after Stalin wrote to Rao asking him to direct Palaniswami to prove his strength in the Assembly following withdrawal of support to him by 19 MLAs owing allegiance to T T V Dhinakaran, a delegation led by DMK deputy floor leader Durai Murugan met the Governor seeking immediate steps to end the political imbroglio.
Will approach Prez, court if Rao doesn’t act in time: Duraimurugan
In the letter submitted to Rao by the delegation on Sunday, Stalin said the Palaniswami government enjoys the support of only 113 MLAs including the Speaker and that the number of MLAs opposed to the government stood at 120 including the "22 dissenting ruling party MLAs" in the 234-member House with one vacancy.
"It is now abundantly clear that the Council of Ministers headed by Palaniswami has lost confidence of the majority MLAs," Stalin claimed and sought action from Rao. Speaking at a function in Tiruvarur, the Opposition leader said there was no need for him to destabilize the AIADMK Government since it would fall on its own.
"The AIADMK Government is in minority. We have asked the governor to take steps to ensure that the Chief Minister proves his majority in the House. If the Governor takes long time to react, we will have no option other than to knock at the doors of the court," he said.
After meeting Rao, Durai Murugan also said the Opposition bloc would be constrained to move President Ram Nath Kovind, and if needed the court, if action was not initiated by Rao within a stipulated time frame. "We have told the Governor that this government has lost its majority and a minority government should not be allowed (to function) in democracy. We have explained him the legalities and he said he would consult and take a decision," Durai Murugan told reporters after the meeting.
In the letter, Stalin cited the landmark SR Bommai case and said allowing the Palaniswami regime to continue would tantamount to violation of the Supreme Court judgement in that case. The top court had held in the Bommai case that the only place to determine a government's majority was the legislative assembly.
