Chennai, 13 May 

The cross-voting by AIADMK's 25 rebel MLAs on Wednesday enabled the TVK government to significantly improve its tally to 144 in the assembly, amidst allegations of horse-trading by the opposition during the floor test.

Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin said that the TVK government was sustaining with "borrowed" allies and by splitting the AIADMK.

As many as 25 AIADMK legislators, including former state ministers S P Velumani and C Ve Shanmugam, voted in support of the Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam government during the floor test. On its own, the TVK had 105 MLAs in the House when the floor test was taken up.

AMMK's lone MLA from Mannargudi, S Kamaraj, who was expelled by the party chief T T V Dhinakaran on May 12 for supporting the TVK, voted in favour of the government.

As many as 21 AIADMK MLAs backing party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami and the latter too, voted against the TVK, while PMK's four legislators and the lone BJP member abstained.

The DMK, with 59 MLAs and its ally the DMDK (legislator and party general secretary Premalatha Vijayakanth), walked out.

Later, responding to the horse-trading charge, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay said his government will move at full throttle (horse speed) to deliver development rather than indulge in backroom political deals.

Speaker JCD Prabhakar, who conducted the voting, TVK's R Sreenivas Sethupathi, who could not vote due to a court case and the Chief Minister vacating the Tiruchirappalli East constituency, brought the TVK's strength in the Assembly to 105. The cross-voting ensured the newly formed government secured a comfortable majority of 144 votes, far above the 118-seat requirement.

Prior to voting, Palaniswami objected to the Speaker inviting his party rebel MLA SP Velumani to speak on the "vote of confidence" motion moved by the chief minister, and said the AIADMK on its own won 47 seats.

"People voted for us on the Two Leaves symbol. It is not fair to invite him to speak after I, as party general, announced that we would vote against the government in this motion," Palaniswami said.

The Speaker said it was his prerogative to call the members to speak, and he asked Velumani to resume.

However, the AIADMK members supporting Palaniswami stood up protesting even as Velumani cryptically said the AIADMK would support the TVK.

Registering his protest, Palaniswami questioned how the Chief Minister could decide to visit the house of one AIADMK legislator without the knowledge of the party leader at a time when there was some difference in the party.

"The TVK has promised clean administration. Only 34 per cent of the people voted for TVK in the Assembly election while the rest voted for others," Palaniswami said.

He claimed that reports indicated that a few MLAs in his party were lured with promises of ministerial berths and government postings.

Congress with five members, CPI, CPI (M), VCK and IUML with two members each voted in favour of the TVK, while the DMK with 59 MLAs and a DMDK member walked out.

The PMK and BJP abstained in the floor test mandated by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar, enabling the newly formed TVK government to consolidate its position in the house.

Firing sharp barbs at the TVK government, Leader of the Opposition DMK Udhayanidhi Stalin said not all people voted for the TVK. Out of 4.93 crore total votes, the TVK secured only 1.72 crore, while the remaining 65 per cent voted against TVK.

The Left parties, VCK and IUML, have extended unconditional support to TVK to prevent President's rule in the state. "You made an MLA vote in your favour without informing the party leadership and split the AIADMK. The twist is first a sofa goes to a house, then the chief minister goes to that house... people are wondering if there was any exchange behind this political change," Udhayanidhi sarcastically said, referring to Vijay's visit to C Ve Shanmugam's house on 12 May.

He remarked that the TVK government was running with the help of "borrowed" allies of the DMK and "others" whom Vijay had said without mentioning the name of AIADMK.

"I am sure you will win the trust vote. Strive for people's welfare and continue the good schemes of the previous DMK government," he said and led the DMK members in staging a walk-out.