EC ruling on ‘two leaves’ likely soon

Dhinakaran loyalists in key positions in Rajya Sabha

Election Commission is slated to settle the question of ownership of the “two-Leaves” symbol in the next few days which will further pave way for possible disqualification of the parliamentarians aligned to the TTV Dhinakaran faction.

“Once the decision comes, we can take up the disqualification of the parliamentarians who have openly sided with TTV Dhinakaran more forcefully,” an AIADMK MP said.

In the last two weeks, AIADMK leaders have met Rajya Sabha Secretary General Deepak Verma and also Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu. AIADMK Rajya Sabha MP V. Maitreyan along with MPs K.P. Munusamy and ex-MP Manoj Pandian met Mr. Verma on October 31. The group also met Rajya Sabha Chairman Venkaiah Naidu on November 8.

MPs A. Navaneethakrishnan, Vijila Sathyananth and N. Gokulakrishnan from the Rajya Sabha and P. Nagarajan, B. Senguttavan and M. Udhayakumar from the Lok Sabha, have openly batted for the TTV Dhinakaran faction. Four of these MPs were also part of Dhinakaran’s first show of strength at a rally in Melur, near Madurai.

The Dhinakaran faction, meanwhile, has pinned its hopes that EC may freeze the symbol. Their hopes are buoyed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with DMK patriarch M. Karunanidhi. “The BJP has realised that neither the Chief Minister or his deputy have control over AIADMK cadres. We are confident that Election Commission, will simply freeze the symbol instead of allotting to any one group,” an MP aligned to the faction said.

For the EPS-OPS faction, it is particularly embarrassing as the key positions in the Rajya Sabha are in hands of the Dhinakaran loyalists. While A.Navaneethakrishnan is the leader of party in the House, Vijila Sathyananth is the chief whip. On the very first lunch hosted by Chairman Venkaiah Naidu for all floor leaders of two Houses of Parliament, Mr Navaneethakrishnan was invited but no MP from EPS-OPS faction.

The lack of representation will become a functional problem during the Parliament sessions as time for legislative business and debates is allotted by the Business Advisory Committee consisting of floor leaders of all parties. Hence it will again be Mr. Navaneethakrishnan who will be calling shots instead of any one from EPS-OPS faction.