The floor test proceedings to prove the majority of the Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) government began in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday. Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay moved a resolution seeking a confidence vote.
Taking part in the trust vote proceedings in the Assembly, Congress declared support to the TVK government. Taking part in the confidence vote proceedings, CPI(M) also declared support to the TVK government in the House.
VCK also said it supports the TVK government during the trust vote, while IUML also declared its support to the ruling party.
During the proceedings, VCK appealed to the TVK government to bring a law against superstition, similar to those in Maharashtra and Karnataka.
The ruling TVK has an overall strength of 107 MLAs, including the Speaker who may not vote. The party’s Tirupattur MLA, R Seenivasa Sethupathy, will not be able to cast his vote following a High Court ruling in a case filed by his rival DMK candidate, who lost to the TVK legislator by one vote in the April 23 polls.
The ruling party has the support of five Congress MLAs. CPI, CPI(M), VCK and IUML — with two MLAs each — have already announced outside support to the maiden TVK government.
Further, a section of around 30 AIADMK MLAs led by senior leaders SP Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam, opposed to party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami, have announced support to the government.
However, AIADMK MLAs loyal to Palaniswami have said they will vote against the government and warned that anti-defection provisions will apply to those defying the party line. — with PTI inputs
