AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami is all set to call on Governor Rajendra Arlekar soon at the Lok Bhavan in Chennai. The AIADMK, which won 47 seats in the recently concluded assembly elections under Palaniswami, is all set to ask the governor to invite him to form the government.
“Our leader is not the kingmaker. He is the king,” said AIADMK’s senior leader and former minister S. Semmalai about Palaniswami, after meeting him at his Greenways Road residence in Chennai this morning. According to highly placed sources in the AIADMK, the TVK, which has 108 MLAs and has the support of five Congress MLAs, has decided to poach a few MLAs from the AIADMK. To avoid this, a batch of over 30 MLAs has been moved to a resort in Puducherry last night. They are being monitored closely and were taken there under the leadership of AIADMK’s Rajya Sabha MP C. Ve. Shanmugam, who had won from the Mailam constituency.
The AIADMK fought the election in alliance with the PMK, IJK and the BJP. While the BJP won only one seat, the PMK faction led by Dr Anbumani Ramadoss has four MLAs. As of now, the AIADMK doesn’t have the strength to form the government and it is nowhere near the halfway mark.
also read
- The 118-seat tightrope: High stakes power play begins in Tamil Nadu
- Two-thirds of AIADMK MLAs may abstain from voting to ensure majority for Vijay's TVK in floor test
- The political realignment in Tamil Nadu: Deconstructing the Congress-DMK divorce and the TVK pivot
- Will VCK back TVK? Vijay has 48 hours to prove majority, swearing in unlikely tomorrow as CPI(M) and CPI rule out alliance
The AIADMK had sent feelers to the TVK, offering outside support to form the government. But the TVK did not respond.
Interestingly, according to sources in the DMK and the AIADMK, Vijay being sworn in as the chief minister and forming the government is the natural choice. But, if Vijay doesn’t form the government, Palaniswami will stake claim to form the government with the support of the smaller parties and outside support from the DMK. This means both the national parties – the Congress and the BJP – will be kept out of the government and also the TVK, which will then have to sit in the Opposition.
Palaniswami forming the government and DMK extending outside support might be a far-fetched idea, but it is also being explored by the political parties in Tamil Nadu.
It remains to be seen whether Arlekar will accept Palaniswami’s proposal and invite him to form the government.
