Chennai: Today (1 July), the Assembly was set to take up a no-confidence motion against Speaker P Dhanapal. But, that did not happen, with the principal opposition, the DMK, which mooted it, deciding not to go ahead with it.
With this becoming reason enough for the party’s critics and rivals to mock its president M K Stalin, saying this is yet another ‘ill-timed move’ of his, the ‘Thalapathi’ is unperturbed.
Defending the party’s move to withdraw the motion, Stalin said it was a ‘strategy’ he adopted to prevent disqualification of three AIADMK MLAs loyal to AMMK founder T T V Dhinakaran.
Terming it as a strategy learnt from his father and former chief minister M Karunanidhi, Stalin said the decision to withdraw the motion was not taken out of fear.
“They (AIADMK) hatched a plan to oust three MLAs. And, to counter it, we brought in a no-confidence motion against the Speaker. In such a scenario, the latter will be given priority,” he said, addressing party workers at an event in Villupuram.
Defending the party’s move to withdraw the motion, he said, even the Supreme Court prevented the disqualification initiatives and prioritised the no-confidence motion.
“It is a raajathanthiram (strategy), we learnt from Kalaignar… That is the fact,’ the DMK leader said without elaborating.
The DMK had given notice for the motion after the Speaker sought explanation from the three MLAs over alleged anti-party activities, but dropped the move last week, prompting the AIADMK to assert that the Opposition party had acknowledged the majority of the ruling party in the Assembly.
According to Stalin, the media has been reporting the last couple of days that the DMK had backed out from its no-confidence motion against Speaker Dhanapal, but the journalists have misunderstood, or rather not read correctly, the political strategy behind his party’s action.
Slamming those who thought that the DMK had fled from its no-confidence notice, Stalin said, “The tiger is crouching only to pounce at the right time, not to run away.”
When asked about this, a DMK leader said, “We can’t reveal all our strategies at this point of time. The Assembly session is going to continue till the end of this month and we have enough time to prove our might. We will do it at the right time and Thalapathi is busy devising fresh strategies.”