DMK boycotts Governor's speech in Tamil Nadu assembly, Dinakaran sits calmly

With the disqualification of 18 MLAs, the magic number in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly reduced to 110, gave Chief Minister Palaniswami an upper hand in the AIADMK power struggle.

DMK led by working president Mk Stalin on Monday boycotted Governor Vidya Sagar Rao's address on the first day of Tamil Nadu Assembly session, calling AIADMK govt as a minority one, saying they do not have the requisite number of MLAs after the disqualification of 18 MLAs.

TTV Dinakaran, who made his debut in the assembly after having won the December 21 RK Nagar bypoll by a thumping margin of 40,000 votes against E Madhusudhanan of AIADMK, was seated calmly.

In September 2017, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal had disqualified 18 AIADMK MLAs supporting TTV Dinakaran, then sidelined party deputy general secretary of AIADMK. The MLAs were disqualified under Schedule 10 of the Indian Constitution, which deals with the anti-defection law.

With the disqualification of 18 MLAs, the magic number in the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly reduced to 110, gave Chief Minister Palaniswami an upper hand in the AIADMK power struggle. Opposition block has 99 MLAs, including 8 Congress MLAs.

The MLAs are S Thangatamilselvan (Andipatti), R Murugan (Harur), S Mariappan Kennedy (Manamadurai), K Kadirkamu (Periyakulam), Jayanthi Padmanabhan (Gudiyattam), P Palaniappan (Pappireddypatti), V Senthil Balaji (Aravakurichi), S Muthiah (Paramakudi), P Vetrivel (Perambur), N G Pathiban (Sholingur), M Kodandapani (Tiruporur), T A Elumalai (Poonamallee), M Rengasamy (Thanjavur), R Thangadurai (Nilakottai), R Balasubramani (Ambur), S G Subramanian (Sattur), R Sundaraj (Ottapidaram) and Uma Maheswari (Vilathikulam).

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