A meeting of three second line AIADMK leaders with Rajya Sabha Secretary General Deepak Verma here on Tuesday led to speculation that they had broached with him the possibility of initiating action against three AIADMK dissident MPs of the Upper House, who have expressed solidarity with sidelined leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran.
The dissident MPs are: A. Navaneethakrishnan, Vijila Sathyananth and N. Gokulakrishnan.
However, Rajya Sabha MP V. Maitreyan, who, accompanied by party colleague K.P. Munusamy and ex-MP Manoj Pandian, met Mr. Verma, denied any such move. “Yes, we met the Secretary General. It was a courtesy call,” he told The Hindu.
Nonetheless, sources within the AIADMK claimed that the possibility of getting the three dissidents disqualified citing their association with Mr. Dhinakaran was indeed being explored., though it is doubtful if this would be constitutionally possible It is claimed that the dissident MPs’ affidavits in support of Mr. Dhinakaran could be used against them.
“Under what capacity did these three people meet the Secretary General? I am the party whip (in the Rajya Sabha). Till the Election Commission rules in favour of any one faction, how can they even try such a trick? It is merely pressure tactics and nothing else,” Ms. Vijila Sathyananth said.
Responding to the speculation that the loyalists of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami were attempting to get the dissidents disqualified, she said neither of the three had made any anti-party statement nor declared that they were giving up the AIADMK membership. That being so no disqualification proceedings could be initiated against them.
Mr. Navaneethakrishnan succeeded Mr. Maitreyan as floor leader in Rajya Sabha after the latter was removed by then AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa in 2014.
When contacted, a senior Rajya Sabha official said, “(Any pending) EC case cannot come in the way of moving a petition to disqualify (any member). It depends on the Rajya Sabha Chairman and the secretariat whether to consider it or not.”
Mr. Dhinakaran too arrived in the capital on Tuesday. “I am here for personal reasons,” he told reporters.
