Tamil Nadu was further pushed into a crisis on Tuesday after 22 MLAs supporting TTV Dinakaran, the nephew of VK Sasikala, met Governor C Vidyasagar Rao in the morning and withdrew support for Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami.

In the individual letters submitted to the governor, the legislators said they had lost confidence in the chief minister and wanted the governor to appoint a new person to the post. The letter expressly stated that they were withdrawing support to Palaniswami.

While on the political front, the move seems to be a pressure tactic from Dinakaran’s side to strengthen his position in the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, experts said the legal implication of the move was that the government was now in minority. Withdrawing support to the chief minister is akin to establishing lack of confidence in the government, the experts pointed out, and a distinction between the government and the chief minister in the Assembly was not available.

Confidence vote

Dinakaran’s move to make legislators loyal to him meet the governor came a day after the factions led by Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam merged. Later, former minister and deputy coordinator of the AIADMK, V Vaithilingam, said that the general council will meet soon to remove Sasikala from the post of general secretary.

Almost immediately, Dinakaran reacted by stating that all party appointments made on Monday, including the one making Panneerselvam the coordinator, were invalid as it was only Sasikala, as the general secretary, who had the powers to make such appointments. On Tuesday, he removed Vaithilingam from primary membership of the AIADMK, disregarding a resolution passed earlier this month by office bearers led by Palaniswami removing him from the post of deputy general secretary.

Meanwhile, 22 MLAs belonging to the Dinakaran camp met Rao to inform him that they were withdrawing support to the chief minister. However, speaking to the media, leaders in the Dinakaran faction said they had only sought the removal of the chief minister. Later, the MLAs proceeded to Puducherry, a move to ensure they are not influenced by the competing factions.

However, there is no provision in law to make a distinction between the government and the chief minister in the Assembly. As the leader of the legislative party, it is the chief minister who leads the government. Once MLAs state that they do not have confidence in the chief minister, it automatically means a withdrawal of support to the government.

Former Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran said the right thing for the governor to do now was to call for a session of the Assembly. “The governor should ask the chief minister to take a confidence vote and prove the majority,” he added.

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam working president MK Stalin made a similar demand in a statement on Tuesday, urging the governor to call for a vote of confidence in the Assembly.

With 22 MLAs moving to the Dinakaran camp, Palaniswami now has the support of only 114 legislators. The majority in the Tamil Nadu Assembly is 117.