A day after the two factions of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), one led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and the other by former chief minister O Panneerselvam, finally merged, 19 MLAs withdrew support from the ruling party, according to media reports.
One of the MLAs who resigned stated in a letter to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao that Palaniswami “forfeited my confidence and that of the public.”
Requesting that the governor intervene, the MLA added, “As chief minister of Tamil Nadu, Edappadi Palaniswami is corrupt and encouraging at several levels, which also have caused severe damage to the name of our party.”
Meanwhile, TTV Dinakaran, nephew of VK Sasikala, took to microblogging site Twitter on Monday night to call the merger of the two factions a betrayal of Sasikala. He claimed: “It is not a merger. It is a commercial agreement reached for self-interest and hunger for positions and to protect posts.”
Dinakaran on Tuesday announced the removal of senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP R Vaithilingam from all party posts after the latter had said that steps would be taken by the General Council following the merger to expel Sasikala.