After a day long ruckus and uproar in the Tamil Nadu state assembly, the newly elected Chief Minister of the state, E Palaniswami has won the floor test.
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Panneerselvam criticised the manner in which the Opposition DMK had been evicted from the House by the Speaker, who rejected the demand for secret ballots.
“Second request was to conduct the secret ballot vote which again he did not agree to”, Pannerselvam said. It did not help matters that a DMK MLA sat in his chair after he left the Assembly.
The AIADMK led by General Secretary Sasikala commands the support of 123 legislators, including the Speaker, while the breakaway group led by Panneerselvam has 11 legislators.
As per AIADMK party rules and regulations, in the absence of the general secretary, party functionaries appointed by the previous general secretary shall perform these functions “As such we are herewith submitting the name of S Semmalai for your acceptance and orders urgently”, the letter said.
Mr. Panneerselvam, known popularly as OPS, had been sworn in as the Chief Minister of the state in the early hours of December 6, shortly after Ms. Jayalalithaa had passed away here late on the previous night.
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Police tightened security outside Tamil Nadu assembly during the trust vote to avoid the chaos from spilling over to the streets.
Panneerselvam on Friday evening urged AIADMK MLAs to vote against Palanisamy.
On Thursday, Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao ended the deadlock and invited Sasikala’s “proxy” Palanisamy to form the government and asked him to prove majority in 15 days.
Her hopes were dashed when the Supreme Court sent her to prison for four years in a two-decade-old corruption case, prompting her to name Palaniswami as her successor and brought two nephews into the party who were expelled by Jayalalithaa. The DMK also wants secret ballot because it wants Palaniswami to be unsuccessful.
He also adjourned the session till 3pm.
The AIADMK party owing allegiance to Sasikala today made it clear that it would not embrace O. Panneerselvam.
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He went for the test on Saturday and managed to win 122 voice votes.
