With the Supreme Court convicting AIADMK general secretary V.K.Sasikala in the Rs 66 crore disproportionate assets (DA) case, senior Congress leader and former union minister P.Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the Tamil Nadu Governor should follow the UP precedent and call for a composite vote in the Assembly if there are two claimants.
In a statement, the former minister said that the AIADMK legislators will elect a leader. "If there is only one claimant, the Governor can swear-in the claimant and ask him to prove his majority. If there are two claimants, the Governor should call for a composite vote," he said citing the case of Uttar Pradesh (UP).
In 1998, the Supreme Court ordered a floor test in the UP assembly to determine who between the two claimants — Jagdambika Pal and Kalyan Singh — commanded the majority support for chief ministership.
Chidambaram, however, refused to comment on the apex court judgement convicting Sasikala in a 19-year-old disproportionate assets case that also involved late Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa.
"It is a Supreme Court judgement and we are all bound by it," Chidambaram, who hails from Tamil Nadu, said.
Last week, Chidambaram had said Sasikala would be "unacceptable to most people" of the state.
"I think AIADMK should behave as a responsible political party and follow process which is democratic and acceptable to people of Tamil Nadu. What they have done, what reports I get, is unacceptable to most people of Tamil Nadu," Chidambaram had said.
