Three former AIADMK MLAs appear before TN assembly speaker, tell him they resigned voluntarily

CHENNAI: Former AIADMK MLAs Maragatham Kumaravel, S Jayakumar and P Sathyabama on Thursday appeared before Tamil Nadu assembly speaker J C D Prabhakar for an inquiry into their resignations as legislators and submitted written explanations, marking the second time they were asked to explain the circumstances leading to their exit from the party and the legislature.The three MLAs resigned on May 24 and joined the ruling TVK soon after. They were among the first batch of AIADMK legislators to quit the party and shift to the ruling side, a move that drew sharp criticism from the opposition.After the inquiry, Perundurai MLA Jayakumar told TOI that the speaker had sought details on the sequence of events, including the reasons for voting in favour of chief minister C Joseph Vijay-led TVK govt during the confidence motion on May 13 and the circumstances that led to their resignations.“We explained that there was no clear communication from the party and there was confusion over who the AIADMK whip was. A majority of the MLAs, 25 in all, decided to support the TVK govt,” he said.Jayakumar said they (the three MLAs) had informed the speaker that they had resigned voluntarily and were unwilling to continue in AIADMK. Former Ambasamuduram MLA Esakki Subaya will also be summoned for a personal enquiry in connection with the case.

The explanations submitted by the MLAs during the inquiry will be placed before the Madras high court, which issued notice to the speaker on AIADMK’s petition challenging the acceptance of their resignations while anti-defection proceedings were pending against them.It may be recalled that the AIADMK and other opposition parties alleged that TVK had resorted to horse-trading after the resignations. They petitioned Governor R V Arlekar, seeking an independent probe into the matter.