Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday opposed the plea moved by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the Madras High Court seeking a probe by the CBI and the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) into the sting operation in which two MLAs belonging to rival AIADMK factions claimed money was offered to legislators to buy their support in February this year.
Raising objections on technical grounds, he said, “The relief sought is irrelevant and extraneous to the issue in question in the main petition, that is, the powers and conduct of the Speaker in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. The CBI and the DRI cannot in anyway address the issue, which took place inside the Assembly on February 18.”
Originally, DMK — the principal opposition party — moved a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition assailing the validity of the proceedings of the motion of confidence moved by the Chief Minister on February 18. It was alleged that the Speaker acted in a mala fide and arbitrary manner while the motion was moved and that the AIADMK MLAs were illegally detained against their will and were brought in vehicles arranged by the supporters of the Chief Minister to vote in his favour.
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Additional prayer
While the petition was pending, on June 12, two television channels aired video recordings of what they claimed to be a sting operation involving the Madurai South MLA S.S. Saravanan (AIADMK-PTA) and Sulur MLA R. Kanagaraj (AIADMK-Amma) alleging that money and gold were offered to party legislators to support the Sasikala camp in February.
The next day, the DMK approached the court and sought a probe into the allegations by the CBI and the DRI. The relief was sought as an additional prayer in the already pending PIL challenging the Motion of Confidence.
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Technically, since the main issue pertains to the proceedings of the Assembly, the Chief Minister has contended that the two investigating agencies cannot be made a party to the proceedings.