<p>By G Jagannath&nbsp;</p>

<p>Amidst the eviction of all 88 DMK MLAs who had gone on the rampage demanding a secret ballot, the Edappadi K Palaniswami government won the trust Saturday with 122 MLAs supporting it and 11 rebel MLAs led by O Panneerselvam voting against it.</p>

<p>History repeated itself in the Tamil Nadu Assembly when the DMK MLAs indulged in violence during the confidence motion, like in the 1988 trust vote of the VN Janaki government. Palaniswami won the confidence vote in which only the two warring factions of AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala and former chief minister O Panneerselvam participated after the eviction of all 88 DMK MLAs and a walkout by its ally Congress (8 MLAs) and IUML (1 MLA).</p>

<p>After alleging that he was manhandled in the Assembly by marshals, Leader of the Opposition and DMK working president MK Stalin, who came out of the House with a torn shirt, complained to Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao about the incidents in the Assembly and urged him to order a fresh floor test.</p>

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<h5>Any move to disqualify the nine rebel MLAs (Panneerselvam and Pandiarajan were expelled from the party) will be challenged in the court,&#39; said a political observer</h5>
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<p>Later, he protested by sitting in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Marina beach along with his MLAs and party cadres. Police detained him and other MLAs but there are reports of stone pelting on buses and road blocks across the state.</p>

<p>Speaking to reporters at late Jayalalithaa&#39;s memorial after winning the trust vote, Palaniswami said that Chinnamma&#39;s (Sasikala) vow has come true with his governing winning the confidence vote. &quot;The media have captured the atrocities committed by the DMK in the Assembly. They came planned to stall the confidence vote. However, they failed,&quot; he said.</p>

<p>The House, which started at 11 am, was adjourned twice after DMK members created a ruckus, seeking secret voting. After the House met, Stalin, Panneerselvam and Congress floor leader KR Ramasamy demanded a secret ballot or an adjournment saying most MLAs were not in a free position to cast their votes. When the Speaker rejected their demand saying he would go for a division vote, infuriated DMK members rushed to the well of the House and gheraoed the Speaker. It soon turned violent with some MLAs breaking the Speaker&#39;s table and microphone. They also broke the Assembly secretary&#39;s chair and table and threw out the Assembly rule book.</p>

<p>Some members were seen standing in their chair, raising slogans. Even as some DMK MLAs tried to pull the Speaker, the marshals rescued him. Stalin and his deputy Duraimurugan remained a mute spectator to the violence unleashed by their party legislators.</p>

<p>When the Assembly met again at 1 pm, the Speaker expressed anguish over the humiliation he faced at the hands of DMK members. &quot;My shirt was torn by them,&quot; he said showing it to the members. However, Stalin expressed regret for it. Even as the Speaker asked Palaniswami to move the trust motion, DMK members were on their feet again and rushed to the well of the House. Dhanapal immediately ordered the eviction of all DMK MLAs and adjourned the House till 3 pm for the second time.</p>

<p>But DMK members were in no mood to leave the House as they staged a sit-in protest. The marshals had a tough time removing the protesting DMK members as they resisted. Each member, including Stalin, was forcefully taken out by the marshals.</p>

<p>When the House meet again after the second adjournment, it passed the confidence motion in division vote in the absence of DMK, Congress and IUML. After declaring that the government won the confidence vote with 122 votes, the Speaker said that even if the DMK members and other opposition parties took part in the voting, the government would have won the majority.</p>

<p>On the government winning the trust motion, Panneerselvam said that they have now passed the resolution saying the government has won the vote of confidence. &quot;Now people will judge them. When these MLAs go to the people, the voters will certainly question them. We will win the people&#39;s support to reinstall Amma&#39;s (Jayalalithaa) government,&quot; he told reporters.</p>

<p>Former school education minister K Pandiarajan, who is in the OPS camp, said: &quot;Had there been a secret ballot, MLAs would have voted against Palaniswami. We may have lost the battle but the war has just begun.&quot; On Saturday morning, the OPS faction appointed a senior leader and MLA S Semmalai as the party whip. &quot;Any move to disqualify the nine rebel MLAs (Panneerselvam and Pandiarajan were expelled from the party) will be challenged in the court. Moreover, the Sasikala camp will not risk by-election at this point of time considering the negative sentiment against it,&quot; said a political observer.</p>

<p>(This report firs appeared in DNA)</p>


'We may have lost the battle but the war has just begun,' said former education minister K Pandiarajan

By G Jagannath Amidst the eviction of all 88 DMK MLAs who had gone on the rampage demanding a secret ballot, the Edappadi K Palaniswami government won the trust Saturday with 122 MLAs supporting it and 11 rebel MLAs led by O Panneerselvam voting against it. History repeated itself in the Tamil Nadu Assembly when the DMK MLAs indulged in violence during the confidence motion, like in the 1988 trust vote of the VN Janaki government. Palaniswami won the confidence vote in which only the two warring factions of AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala and former chief minister O Panneerselvam participated after the eviction of all 88 DMK MLAs and a walkout by its ally Congress (8 MLAs) and IUML (1 MLA). After alleging that he was manhandled in the Assembly by marshals, Leader of the Opposition and DMK working president MK Stalin, who came out of the House with a torn shirt, complained to Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao about the incidents in the Assembly and urged him to order a fresh floor test. Any move to disqualify the nine rebel MLAs (Panneerselvam and Pandiarajan were expelled from the party) will be challenged in the court,' said a political observer × Later, he protested by sitting in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in Marina beach along with his MLAs and party cadres. Police detained him and other MLAs but there are reports of stone pelting on buses and road blocks across the state. Speaking to reporters at late Jayalalithaa's memorial after winning the trust vote, Palaniswami said that Chinnamma's (Sasikala) vow has come true with his governing winning the confidence vote. "The media have captured the atrocities committed by the DMK in the Assembly. They came planned to stall the confidence vote. However, they failed," he said. The House, which started at 11 am, was adjourned twice after DMK members created a ruckus, seeking secret voting. After the House met, Stalin, Panneerselvam and Congress floor leader KR Ramasamy demanded a secret ballot or an adjournment saying most MLAs were not in a free position to cast their votes. When the Speaker rejected their demand saying he would go for a division vote, infuriated DMK members rushed to the well of the House and gheraoed the Speaker. It soon turned violent with some MLAs breaking the Speaker's table and microphone. They also broke the Assembly secretary's chair and table and threw out the Assembly rule book. Some members were seen standing in their chair, raising slogans. Even as some DMK MLAs tried to pull the Speaker, the marshals rescued him. Stalin and his deputy Duraimurugan remained a mute spectator to the violence unleashed by their party legislators. When the Assembly met again at 1 pm, the Speaker expressed anguish over the humiliation he faced at the hands of DMK members. "My shirt was torn by them," he said showing it to the members. However, Stalin expressed regret for it. Even as the Speaker asked Palaniswami to move the trust motion, DMK members were on their feet again and rushed to the well of the House. Dhanapal immediately ordered the eviction of all DMK MLAs and adjourned the House till 3 pm for the second time. But DMK members were in no mood to leave the House as they staged a sit-in protest. The marshals had a tough time removing the protesting DMK members as they resisted. Each member, including Stalin, was forcefully taken out by the marshals. When the House meet again after the second adjournment, it passed the confidence motion in division vote in the absence of DMK, Congress and IUML. After declaring that the government won the confidence vote with 122 votes, the Speaker said that even if the DMK members and other opposition parties took part in the voting, the government would have won the majority. On the government winning the trust motion, Panneerselvam said that they have now passed the resolution saying the government has won the vote of confidence. "Now people will judge them. When these MLAs go to the people, the voters will certainly question them. We will win the people's support to reinstall Amma's (Jayalalithaa) government," he told reporters. Former school education minister K Pandiarajan, who is in the OPS camp, said: "Had there been a secret ballot, MLAs would have voted against Palaniswami. We may have lost the battle but the war has just begun." On Saturday morning, the OPS faction appointed a senior leader and MLA S Semmalai as the party whip. "Any move to disqualify the nine rebel MLAs (Panneerselvam and Pandiarajan were expelled from the party) will be challenged in the court. Moreover, the Sasikala camp will not risk by-election at this point of time considering the negative sentiment against it," said a political observer. (This report firs appeared in DNA)

Tamil Nadu: After Palaniswami wins trust vote, Panneerselvam camp says fight still on

<p>Newly-appointed chief minister E Palaniswami on Saturday won the floor test in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, with 122 MLAs voting in favour of his AIADMK government and 11 from the rival O Panneerselvam camp against.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Opposition DMK members, who had earlier declared they would vote against the chief minister, were&nbsp;evicted from the house after creating ruckus and manhandling the speaker of the house. The&nbsp;Congress and IUML (Indian Union Muslim League), also opposition parties,&nbsp;walked out in protest before the crucial voting took place.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WATCH?src=hash">#WATCH</a> DMK MLAs scuffle with TN Assembly speaker, protesting DMK MLA Ku Ka Selvam sat on speaker chair <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/floortest?src=hash">#floortest</a> (Jaya TV) <a href="https://t.co/CkMQY9FfQx">pic.twitter.com/CkMQY9FfQx</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/832859058105413632">February 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Earlier, Palaniswami, a Sasikala loyalist, needed&nbsp;to prove that&nbsp;117 of the Assembly&#39;s 234 lawmakers backed him.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The effective strength of the house was&nbsp;reduced to 134 once the DMK&#39;s 88 members were evicted and the Congress&#39; 8 members also walked out. This lowered the number of votes that Palaniswami needed to win a majority.</p>

<p>DMK leader Stalin, who protested at Marina Beach after the vote, was detained by the police along with other legislators of the DMK.</p>

<p>Stalin said he had written a letter to the Governor, stating it was &quot;unconstitutional&quot; of the Speaker to conduct a trust vote in the absence of members of the Opposition.</p>

<p>&quot;Request Tamil Nadu Governor to restore democratic values and order Assembly postponement for conducting secret voting on the Confidence Motion,&quot; MK Stalin said in the letter.</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Earlier visuals of DMK&#39;s protest at Chennai&#39;s Marina Beach. DMK Working President MK Stalin &amp; other party leaders still in Police detention. <a href="https://t.co/5ZALGvo3vk">pic.twitter.com/5ZALGvo3vk</a></p>
&mdash; ANI (@ANI_news) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI_news/status/832926187995422720">February 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Stalin earlier met Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao immediately after the trust vote.&nbsp;DMK workers protested outside the Governor&#39;s House alleging that their party&#39;s legialators were forcibly evicted from the house.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The Panneerselvam camp, meanewhile,&nbsp;claimed that the outcome would have been different&nbsp;had the DMK members not been evicted and voting been done by&nbsp;secret ballot.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
&quot;DMK MLAs for three hours kept on repeating their request to save democracy, now in absence of all of us, vote was passed. We doubt its validity,&quot; Panneerselvam alleged.<br />
<br />
&quot;We had kept kept two demands before speaker, one was to send MLAs to their constituencies, but Speaker didn&#39;t agree to them&quot;.</p>

<p>Panneerselvam&nbsp;sympathised with the DMK MLAs who were forcibly evicted from the Assembly.</p>

<p>&quot;It is against democracy and the resolution was passed after they were evicted from the Assembly.&quot;</p>

<p>Asked about the appointment of AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala&#39;s family members to top party posts, Pannerselvam said, &quot;If Jayalalihaa was alive, she would have continued to ensure that they did not have any access to the party.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;There were constant threats. Abusive language was used. Things would&#39;ve been different if secret ballot was done,&quot; said K Pandiarajan, former school education minister, who crossed over to the Panneerselvam camp.<br />
<br />
The Assembly was to vote at 11 am but the house was suspended twice on Saturday. The Opposition MLAs were expelled from the house by the speaker, who in turn had been manhandled by opposition lawmakers earlier after he turned down their demand for a secret ballot.&nbsp;&nbsp;Members of the opposition ripped papers, toppled tables and threw microphones to demand a secret ballot that would potentially allow legislators from the ruling AIADMK&nbsp;party to switch sides.</p>

<p>Television footage showed legislators storming the well of the house and manhandling each other, injuring at least one member who was carried out on a stretcher.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The speaker, who was whisked away to safety by marshals, ordered the eviction of disruptive legislators.</p>

<p>Popular South star Kamal Haasan slammed legislators for their unruly behaviour on Twitter.<br />
&nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">There you go. Seems like we have another CM. Jai de-mockcrazy</p>
&mdash; Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) <a href="https://twitter.com/ikamalhaasan/status/832891742600851456">February 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">People of Tamizhnadu, Welcome your respective MLAs with the respect they desrve back home</p>
&mdash; Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) <a href="https://twitter.com/ikamalhaasan/status/832893053362851841">February 18, 2017</a></blockquote>
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<p>&nbsp;</p>

<p>Palaniswami and AIADMK legislators paid tribute to Jayalalithaa at her memorial in Chennai&#39;s Marina Beach soon after winning the vote of confidence.</p>

<p>Palaniswami&nbsp;was sworn-in as the chief minister on Thursday (February 16). The governor had given him 15 days to prove his majority in the house.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
Rebel former chief minister O Panneerselvam, who had claimed the support of 11 MLAs, had also staked claim to form the government in a meeting with Governor C Vidyasagar Rao earlier this week.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Tamil Nadu was plunged into political crisis two months after&nbsp;Jayalalithaa&#39;s sudden death.</p>

<p>Her close aide Sasikala -- a one-time video cassette seller who has never held political office or stood for election -- emerged as the heir apparent until&nbsp;she was convicted on Tuesday for&nbsp;amassing illegal assets worth $10 million, barring her from holding office for a decade.</p>

<p>The corruption case dates back to the late 1990s, when Jayalalithaa and Sasikala were accused of profiting from the chief minister&#39;s office and acquiring wealth beyond their income.</p>

<p>Sasikala had earlier kept several dozen legislators in a resort outside Chennai over fears her opponents&#39; camp might try to poach them in the battle for succession.</p>

<p><br />
<strong>Watch:</strong></p>

<center><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FWIONews%2Fvideos%2F600151710195468%2F&amp;show_text=0&amp;width=560" style="border:none;overflow:hidden" width="560"></iframe></center>

<p><br />
<br />
(WION with inputs from ANI, AFP)</p>


122 lawmakers voted in the AIADMK's favour. The voting took place in the absence of DMK legislators who were evicted for unruly behaviour

Newly-appointed chief minister E Palaniswami on Saturday won the floor test in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, with 122 MLAs voting in favour of his AIADMK government and 11 from the rival O Panneerselvam camp against. Opposition DMK members, who had earlier declared they would vote against the chief minister, were evicted from the house after creating ruckus and manhandling the speaker of the house. The Congress and IUML (Indian Union Muslim League), also opposition parties, walked out in protest before the crucial voting took place. #WATCH DMK MLAs scuffle with TN Assembly speaker, protesting DMK MLA Ku Ka Selvam sat on speaker chair #floortest (Jaya TV) pic.twitter.com/CkMQY9FfQx — ANI (@ANI_news) February 18, 2017 × Earlier, Palaniswami, a Sasikala loyalist, needed to prove that 117 of the Assembly's 234 lawmakers backed him. The effective strength of the house was reduced to 134 once the DMK's 88 members were evicted and the Congress' 8 members also walked out. This lowered the number of votes that Palaniswami needed to win a majority. DMK leader Stalin, who protested at Marina Beach after the vote, was detained by the police along with other legislators of the DMK. Stalin said he had written a letter to the Governor, stating it was "unconstitutional" of the Speaker to conduct a trust vote in the absence of members of the Opposition. "Request Tamil Nadu Governor to restore democratic values and order Assembly postponement for conducting secret voting on the Confidence Motion," MK Stalin said in the letter. Earlier visuals of DMK's protest at Chennai's Marina Beach. DMK Working President MK Stalin & other party leaders still in Police detention. pic.twitter.com/5ZALGvo3vk — ANI (@ANI_news) February 18, 2017 × Stalin earlier met Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao immediately after the trust vote. DMK workers protested outside the Governor's House alleging that their party's legialators were forcibly evicted from the house. The Panneerselvam camp, meanewhile, claimed that the outcome would have been different had the DMK members not been evicted and voting been done by secret ballot. "DMK MLAs for three hours kept on repeating their request to save democracy, now in absence of all of us, vote was passed. We doubt its validity," Panneerselvam alleged. "We had kept kept two demands before speaker, one was to send MLAs to their constituencies, but Speaker didn't agree to them". Panneerselvam sympathised with the DMK MLAs who were forcibly evicted from the Assembly. "It is against democracy and the resolution was passed after they were evicted from the Assembly." Asked about the appointment of AIADMK general secretary VK Sasikala's family members to top party posts, Pannerselvam said, "If Jayalalihaa was alive, she would have continued to ensure that they did not have any access to the party." "There were constant threats. Abusive language was used. Things would've been different if secret ballot was done," said K Pandiarajan, former school education minister, who crossed over to the Panneerselvam camp. The Assembly was to vote at 11 am but the house was suspended twice on Saturday. The Opposition MLAs were expelled from the house by the speaker, who in turn had been manhandled by opposition lawmakers earlier after he turned down their demand for a secret ballot. Members of the opposition ripped papers, toppled tables and threw microphones to demand a secret ballot that would potentially allow legislators from the ruling AIADMK party to switch sides. Television footage showed legislators storming the well of the house and manhandling each other, injuring at least one member who was carried out on a stretcher. The speaker, who was whisked away to safety by marshals, ordered the eviction of disruptive legislators. Popular South star Kamal Haasan slammed legislators for their unruly behaviour on Twitter. There you go. Seems like we have another CM. Jai de-mockcrazy — Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) February 18, 2017 × People of Tamizhnadu, Welcome your respective MLAs with the respect they desrve back home — Kamal Haasan (@ikamalhaasan) February 18, 2017 × Palaniswami and AIADMK legislators paid tribute to Jayalalithaa at her memorial in Chennai's Marina Beach soon after winning the vote of confidence. Palaniswami was sworn-in as the chief minister on Thursday (February 16). The governor had given him 15 days to prove his majority in the house. Rebel former chief minister O Panneerselvam, who had claimed the support of 11 MLAs, had also staked claim to form the government in a meeting with Governor C Vidyasagar Rao earlier this week. Tamil Nadu was plunged into political crisis two months after Jayalalithaa's sudden death. Her close aide Sasikala -- a one-time video cassette seller who has never held political office or stood for election -- emerged as the heir apparent until she was convicted on Tuesday for amassing illegal assets worth $10 million, barring her from holding office for a decade. The corruption case dates back to the late 1990s, when Jayalalithaa and Sasikala were accused of profiting from the chief minister's office and acquiring wealth beyond their income. Sasikala had earlier kept several dozen legislators in a resort outside Chennai over fears her opponents' camp might try to poach them in the battle for succession. Watch: (WION with inputs from ANI, AFP)

India: Tamil Nadu chief minister Palaniswami wins floor test amid bedlam

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Tamil Nadu: After Palaniswami wins trust vote, Panneerselvam camp says fight still on

India: Tamil Nadu chief minister Palaniswami wins floor test amid bedlam