MLA walks out of Koovathur resort, to boycott trust vote

Coimbatore north MLA P R G Arunkumar today walked out of Koovathur resort and said he would boycott the trust vote in Assembly.

He said he is upset with the recent developments and would seek the opinion of people of his constituency.

Meanwhile, DMK and its alliance partners Congress and IUML have decided to vote against a confidence motion to be moved by chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Saturday.

Palaniswami will need to demonstrate on the floor of the 234-member House, the support of at least half or 117 legislators. He has with him 123 of the ruling AIADMK's 134 MLAs, excluding the Speaker, which is a slim six more than the majority mark.

DMK working president M K Stalin confirmed that all 89 MLAs of DMK would not be extending support to Palaniswami.

“If he (Tamil Nadu CM) seeks vote of confidence, we will oppose him in the assembly. Our 89 MLAs will vote against him,” Stalin said, following a high-level meeting of DMK functionaries in Chennai.

Stalin indicated that DMK is rooting for re-elections in state. “People from all walks of life have been badly affected due to political crisis in Tamil Nadu,” he added.

Stalin said, "Palaniswami is supposed to show he has the numbers to prove his majority in the trust vote on the floor of the House. The AIADMK regime has been a failure on several fronts. There has been a complete breakdown of law and order in the state. So to show our opposition, we will participate in the assembly and vote against him."