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Chennai, 13 May. The AIADMK has come into action mode against rebel MLAs who voted for Chief Minister Thalapathy Vijay-led TVK government during the trust vote in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday. In this sequence, CV Shanmugam, SP Velumani and Vijayabhaskar and other MLAs have been removed from party posts.

AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami (EPS) said in the evening that several leaders including Velumani, Shanmugam and Vijayabhaskar were removed from their party posts. The party chief took strict action against rebel MLAs, including Natham R Viswanatham, who defied party orders and voted in favor of the TVK government during the confidence motion in the Assembly earlier in the day. Palaniswami changed the party posts of these MLAs and appointed new district secretaries in their place.

A total of 29 AIADMK leaders, including 13 sitting MLAs, have been removed from various party posts. R. Kamaraj, Thangamani, K.P. Anbazhagan, Benjamin, Udumalai Radhakrishnan, Esaki Subbaiah, M.C. Sampath, K.C. Veeramani and M.R. Vijaybhaskar is also included in the list of those to be removed from the post.

It is noteworthy that the cross-voting of 25 AIADMK MLAs who united in support of Shanmugam and another senior leader SP Velumani improved the TVK government’s majority in the 234-member House and got the support of 144 MLAs. The DMK walked out of the House, while the PMK abstained and the lone BJP MLA remained neutral. 21 other AIADMK MLAs owing allegiance to Palaniswami voted against the government.

TVK and our ideological agenda are similar – rebel leader Shanmugam

Meanwhile, rebel leader CV Shanmugam claimed that Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) and AIADMK have the same ideological agenda. Both see the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) as an evil force and that is why a section of the opposition MLAs supported the government in the majority test in the House.

Speaking to reporters after the majority test in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, Shanmugam rejected AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami’s claim that he would get ministerial berths in return for supporting the C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government.