Chennai: Tamil Nadu Assembly will convene for a short session on January 8 with Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s maiden address to the House.
Purohit made the announcement on Thursday that the first session in 2018 will be convened on January 8 that will begin with his customary address to the House. The duration of the session will be decided on January 8 when the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) of the Assembly meets after Governor’s address.
The session will sure be a political potboiler with the DMK and independent MLA TTV Dhinakaran, who won the R K Nagar by-poll on Sunday, expected to ask Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to prove his majority on the floor of the House. Meanwhile, Dhinakaran will be sworn in as RK Nagar MLA on Friday at the Speaker’s chamber in the secretariat.
DMK and Dhinakaran say the EPS-OPS government has lost its majority and has been reduced to a minority dispensation with just 111 MLAs supporting it.
However, the government says its enjoys majority after Speaker P Dhanapal disqualified 18 MLAs owing allegiance to the rebel leader. DMK sources said a decision on whether to move no confidence motion against the EPS Government will be taken soon.
Dhinakaran won’t be able to move the no confidence motion, since one needs the support of at least 23 MLAs (10 per cent of the total strength of the Assembly) to move such a motion. In such a scenario, he has to depend on arch-rival DMK to move the no confidence motion if there is no ruling from the court or the governor in this regard.
The DMK and Dhinakaran have been demanding convening of the Assembly since August when the 18 MLAs submitted letter of withdrawal of their support to the Chief Minister to Governor. Stalin had knocked at the doors of Raj Bhawan as well as the Madras High Court seeking a direction to Palanis-wami to prove his majority.
Dhinakaran’s maiden enter into the Assembly, his camp feels, would embolden several of his supporters within the AIADMK legislature party to openly support him and even vote against the government if a no confidence motion is brought against Palaniswami dispensation. The rebel leader has been harping onto his “sleeper cells” within the legislature party and reiterated even on Sunday that they would come out in the public during the no confidence motion.
