Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker seeks opinion on disqualification of MLAs
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal on Friday sought legal opinion from Advocate General Vijaya Narayan on the action that could be taken against 19 AIADMK legislators who had withdrawn their support to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami by handing over letter to Governor CH Vidyasagar Rao.
Dhanapal held back-to-back consultations with Narayan on Friday along with Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam on the strategy to deal with the rebellious MLA. The Advocate General's participation in the meeting assumes significance in the wake of his submission in the Madras High Courton Thursday on behalf of the Speaker that action against the legislators have begun.
Sources said the Speaker asked the top law officer of the government to give a legal opinion on the action, including disqualification of their membership, which could be taken against the legislators. Already the Speaker had sent showcause notices to these legislators, owing allegiance to TTV Dhinakaran, seeking their reply on why action should not be taken against them.
“The high court order staying trust vote till September 20 was discussed at the meeting in which the CM, Deputy CM and Law Minister C Ve Shanmugam besides the AG participated. All issues relating to the notices issued to the legislators were discussed,” sources said.
They said the Speaker is very clear that he wants to take legal opinion before acting against the legislators. If the legislators are disqualified for acting against the party line, they can take legal course by moving the courts. “He has started the process of consultation before taking his final decision. His consultation process would continue for the next few days,” the sources said.
The legislators had on August 22 met Governor Rao and submitted letters withdrawing their support to Palaniswami. Dhinakaran and Opposition leader M.K. Stalin have been demanding the Governor to call for a floor test to determine the status of the government and they have also knocked at the HC separately.
