AIADMK, VCK, CPM condemn TVK’s ‘horse trading’

Chennai: Senior AIADMK leader O S Manian has accused the TVK of resorting to horse-trading. He said four rebel legislators handed over their resignation letters to assembly speaker J C D Prabhakar at the secretariat and then met minister Aadhav Arjuna, also at the secretariat, to collect their TVK membership cards.

“This is nothing but horse-trading,” Manian said, and wondered how the ruling party had “turned the secretariat into its party office to encourage defections”.

Earlier, an AIADMK delegation led by former minister Agri S S Krishnamurthy petitioned the speaker to reject the resignations.

“The speaker should not entertain resignation letters while a petition against these MLAs is pending under the anti-defection law. He should revoke earlier orders regarding vacancies in those constituencies,” said AIADMK leader I S Inbadurai.

VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, too, criticised the trend, stating that his party rejected “this style of politics”. He urged TVK to turn away defectors, warning that accepting resigning MLAs would damage the party’s credibility.

Meanwhile, CPM state secretary P Shanmugam said the “switch over pattern” was detrimental to democracy. “The MLAs claim they joined TVK voluntarily, but this is not a natural move made without expecting something in return,” Shanmugam said.

Congress MP S Jothimani said her party cannot endorse TVK’s methods. “A party’s methods must strengthen democracy, not weaken it,” Jothimani said. “It is fundamentally wrong for anyone in Congress to justify horse-trading. The BJP uses such a weapon to undermine Indian democracy. Congress cannot adopt double standards by opposing horse-trading elsewhere while supporting it in Tamil Nadu.”