Chennai: AIADMK legislator Esakki Subaya on Tuesday met Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker J C D Prabhakar and submitted his resignation letter, making him the fourth party MLA to do so in two days.
The Ambasamudram MLA tendered his letter offering to resign his post as MLA to the Speaker at the Secretariat here. The latter initially declined to accept, as it did not conform to the rules. Immediately, Subaya took back the typed letter and within minutes submitted the handwritten one, which Prabhakar accepted.
Subaya is among the breakaway MLAs supporting former state ministers C Ve Shanmugam and S P Velumani and had voted in favour of the TVK government during the floor test in the Assembly on May 13.
Subaya presented shawls to the two TVK ministers.
AIADMK’s Edapaddi K Palaniswami (EPS)-led faction and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) called this move “horse-trading”.
The split in the AIADMK surfaced in the assembly on May 13, when 25 MLAs from the C Ve Shanmugam – S P Velumani faction extended their support to the ruling TVK during the crucial floor test.
AIADMK won 47 seats in the assembly polls. The remaining 22 lawmakers remained with the EPS faction.
Subaya, who has won three times in the Ambasamudram seat in Tirunelveli district, said he took this decision after hearing comments from the people in his constituency.
“My priority is solely the people of my constituency. This action (tendering of resignation) is taken keeping only their welfare in mind. I have no personal likes or dislikes of my own. I have taken this decision for the sake of my constituency’s people,” Subaya said.
Asked whether he would call on the chief minister, he said, “Meeting the CM is not a sin nor is it bad. If given an opportunity, I will meet the CM, who is governing well today.”
DMK President M K Stalin said, “Those who projected themselves as a clean force (Thooya sakthi) have now been exposed. They have become a tragic force. TVK engineered the resignation of AIADMK MLAs and made them join the party in the Secretariat itself.”
EPS called this ‘vulgar politics’ and ‘horse trading’ introduced by the TVK.
Congress MP S. Jothimani, regarding the ‘horse-trading’ remark said that the party cannot adopt different standards for Tamil Nadu and other states.
The Parliamentarian from Karur said, “As a party in the alliance, Congress would stand with the CM C Joseph Vijay to deliver efficient governance, but cannot support all the measures that TVK decides.”
“It would be wrong if anyone from the Congress justified horse-trading. The first weapon that the BJP [Bharatiya Janata Party] took to weaken democracy…” she said.
