THE four-day old TVK Government in Tamil Nadu crossed a major hurdle on Wednesday, winning a confidence-boosting trust vote by a 144:22 margin amid a walkout by the principal Opposition party DMK and a divided AIADMK whose one faction supported the C Joseph Vijay-led Government. In the 234-member House, 118 is the simple majority mark. AIADMK MLAs backing chief Edappadi K Palaniswami voted against the Government. The AIADMK chief, representing Edappadi in the Assembly, wondered if it was correct for CM Vijay to side with one group of his party. The BJP, with its lone MLA, stayed neutral while another NDA constituent, the PMK (4), also abstained. Amidst questions of its stability in the wake of a lack of a majority, the win gives the maiden TVK Government the much-needed confidence to settle down and get on with delivery of governance, even as the ministers, including CM Vijay, are yet to be allotted portfolios. For the next six months, another floor test may not be held.

 

The Vijay-led TVK Government won the trust vote with support from the Congress, VCK, Left, AMMK and the AIADMK rebel faction led by leaders SP Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam. As soon as the House convened at 9.30 am, CM Vijay moved the vote of confidence resolution, and the legislators belonging to all parties spoke on the motion. Speaker JCD Prabhakar, after conducting division-wise voting, declared that the resolution moved by the Chief Minister seeking vote of confidence of the Assembly has won, and as many as 144 MLAs voted with the Government. AIADMK legislature party splits, EPS removes rebels from party posts: Post-poll rumblings in the AIADMK snowball into an imminent vertical split with one group led by party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami voting against the government in the Assembly on the trust vote while the other defied the party diktat and sided with the TVK regime. Hours after the confidence vote proceedings in the House, where 25 MLAs from the rival faction of the AIADMK voted in favour of the C Joseph Vijay-led government, Palaniswami removed rebel leaders including C Ve Shanmugam, SP Velumani, R Kamaraj, C Vijayabaskar and Natham R Viswanathan from their respective party posts.