One more AIADMK MLA quits and flips

AMBASAMUDRAM MLA Esakki Subaya, considered a key AIADMK figure in the south, resigned as legislator and joined the ruling TVK on Tuesday, taking the number of rebel MLAs who quit their posts and joined the ruling party in the last two days to four.

- T MURUGANANDHAM

Speaker JCD Prabhakar accepted his resignation.

The steady stream of resignations has triggered horse-trading allegations from opposition parties DMK and AIADMK while deeply unsettling the ruling alliance. Coalition partners Congress and VCK on Tuesday condemned the developments as “unhealthy politics”, and the Left parties, which support the Vijay government from the outside, have also expressed strong dissatisfaction. TVK leader and Revenue Minister KA Sengottaiyan, however, firmly dismissed the accusations.

Responding to the developments, CPI (M) state secretary P Shanmugam said that though the MLAs had resigned and joined TVK of their own volition, “we are unable to see it as a move without anticipating anything in return.” VCK founder Thol Thirumavalavan said, “It is our desire that the TVK leadership doesn’t give room to criticism over the issue.”