Opposition Strength Shrinks as Political Realignment Intensifies
Tamil Nadu politics
A further blow was dealt to Tamil Nadu’s AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) party on Tuesday when Esakki Subaya, the MLA from Ambasamudram in Tirunelveli district, resigned from the Assembly and joined the TVK (Thalapathy Venkatesh Kumar) party.
As a consequence of this latest defection, the AIADMK’s assembly strength has dropped from forty-seven to forty-three members. This is the fourth instance where a member of the AIADMK’s rebel faction, led by C.V.Shanmugam and S.P.Velumani, has defected.
Earlier, Maragatham Kumaravel, P.Sathyabama and J.Sayakumar also resigned as AIADMK MLAs and formally joined Chief Minister J.C.Joseph Vijay’s TVK political party one day before Subaya’s resignation.
On Tuesday, Subaya met with J.C.D.Prabhakar, the Speaker of the Assembly and submitted his letter of resignation. The Speaker then accepted Subaya’s resignation and made a public statement confirming this decision.
Shortly thereafter, Subaya joined the TVK at the TVK party headquarters in Panaiyur. N.Anand, the TVK General Secretary and Writ so-called State Minister, welcomed him with a shawl and presented him with a new TVK party membership.
The latest defection has further weakened the AIADMK rebel faction and placed additional internal stress on AIADMK MLAs who are supporting the TVK government in violation of the AIADMK party whip. Internally, the divisions among the dissident faction are deepening.
Another member of the dissident faction, Balakrishna Reddy, returned to the Edappadi K.Palaniswami camp today. The separation of Balakrishna Reddy and the other leaders of the dissident faction this week has signified that divisions are becoming increasingly evident within this dissident faction. Natham R. Viswanathan and P. Thangamani, senior leaders within the dissident faction also met with Palaniswami.
The AIADMK accused the TVK of encouraging defections to increase its strength in the Assembly. The party’s whip, Agri S S Krishnamurthy, argued that no resignation requests should be accepted while there are pending anti-defection petitions.
I S Inbadurai, a Rajya Sabha MP, also questioned the legality of accepting resignations during ongoing proceedings. Congress, CPI(M), and VCK parties have expressed concern regarding legislators from the opposition moving into the ruling party.
Defections have changed the political climate within the Assembly. While the TVK continues to gain supporters, the AIADMK is having difficulty maintaining its unity. Political analysts believe that these changes will greatly impact how the opposition will operate, as well as how future elections in Tamil Nadu will play out.
Tamil Nadu politics
