Just a day after the merger of both the factions of OPS and EPS to form a united AIADMK, 19 MLAs supporting the TT Dhinakaran faction had written a letter to the Governor of Tamil Nadu declaring no confidence in the Chief Minister and demanding for a floor test.
AIADMK had received a major jolt when the Chief Minister E Palaniswamy along with the newly appointed Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had convened a party meeting on 28 Aug to take the decision on expelling Sasikala and Dhinakaran but the meeting was more of a shock for the party as 27 more MLAs apart from the 19 Dhinakaran camp MLAs had skipped the EPS-OPS meeting. However, a second meeting was called a few days later recorded the attendance of 109 MLAs.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister on Wednesday in his statement to the reporters claimed that he has the support of all the MLAs in the party defying all the possibilities of the Tamil Nadu government breaking down during the floor test. While leaving from the Coimbatore airport he said that “There are 135 MLAs in the party, including the Speaker, and the government has the support of all of them.” He also said that around 109 MLAs had attended the last meeting and the ones absent were due to various reasons and none of them skipped the meeting on the grounds of rebelling against the party.
State fisheries minister D Jayakumar on Monday had claimed that 111 MLAs had attended the meet convened by the chief minister. Though according to the sources out of the 19 MLAs who had written a letter to the governor seeking a floor test, 17 of them a re still lodged at a resort in neighbouring Puducherry.
As per the current scenario to clear the floor test the ruling AIADMK requires 117 seats. The combined strength of both the factions of AIADMK is 134, out of which 19 MLAs have rebelled against the party, supporting the Dhinakaran camp. Now the Chief Minister is claiming the support of 109 MLAs, still, the party falls short of 8 MLAs to win the majority at the Tamil Nadu Assembly.