Ahead of the presidential election, the split in the legislative wing of the principal Opposition party, All India N.R. Congress, is causing doubts whether all its eight MLAs would en bloc to support the National Democratic Alliance’s presidential candidate Ram Nath Kovind.
Just days after skipping a meeting convened by BJP national president Amit Shah during a visit here, three MLAs of AINRC on Saturday failed to meet Mr. Kovind when he visited Chennai as part of his presidential campaign.
The three MLAs — T.P.R. Selvame, Chandirapriyanga and P. R.N. Thirumurugan — did not accompany AINRC chief and former Chief Minister N. Rangasamy when he met Mr. Kovind in Chennai.
While the legislators cited personal reasons for not attending the meeting convened by Mr. Shah, the three did not state any specific grounds for their absence in Chennai.
The AINRC had to face a major embarrassment in the Assembly when Mr. Selvame refused to stage a walkout along with party legislators on Centac admission issue.
Mr. Thirumurugan on the other hand had boycotted the Assembly only to visit the House on his birthday to exchange pleasantries with Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy.
