P Chidambaram terms AIADMK politics as 'farce', urges Tamil Nadu governor to tak

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New Delhi: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Saturday termed the latest political developments in Tamil Nadu's ruling AIADMK as "low comedy turning into farce", and asked why was the governor not taking any action.

The Tamil Nadu Assembly has 233 members and the governor should not allow time to "artificially alter strength", he said in an apparent reference to the tug of war between AIADMK factions.

"AIADMK politics is low comedy turning into farce. Where is TN Governor?" he tweeted.

AIADMK politics is low comedy turning into farce. Where is TN Governor?

— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) August 27, 2017
There have been demands for a trust vote in the Tamil Nadu assembly by the DMK, Congress and the AIADMK faction led by TTV Dhinakaran.

In the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, the AIADMK has 134 MLAs. There is no one representing the RK Nagar constituency in the House, which late AIADMK supremo and former chief minister J Jayalalithaa had represented.

File image of P Chidambaram. PTIFile image of P Chidambaram. PTI
The DMK has 89 seats, Congress eight and IUML one.

Nineteen AIADMK MLAs loyal to Dhinakaran revolted against Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswamy. The 19 MLAs have been staying in a resort in Puducherry. Later, two more MLAs joined the Dhinakaran camp.

The AIADMK will soon join the NDA and be a part of the Modi government at the Centre, a senior BJP leader has said.

"The AIADMK will certainly join the NDA. It is only a matter of time. And when it joins the NDA, then it is natural that it will also join the government," the leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said.

He also played down the rebellion by a group of AIADMK MLAs, who owe allegiance to Dhinakaran, claiming that it was more an internal matter of the regional party and not a threat to the state government.

Following the recent merger of two AIADMK factions headed by Palaniswamy and former chief minister O Panneerselvam, the party has been hit by fresh dissent with a group of MLAs rallying behind Dhinakaran, whose aunt, VK Sasikala, is the AIADMK chief and in jail on a corruption case.

The two factions' decision to remove Sasikala from the post of party general secretary triggered the unrest.