देश

Tamil Nadu assembly trust vote: Palanisamy faces floor test; claims he has support of 124 MLAs

Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palanisamy, a loyalist of VK Sasikala, will seek a trust vote in the assembly on Saturday and barring any last-minute hitches the new AIADMK government is expected to sail through.

After Tamil Governor C Vidyasagar Rao finally ended the suspense over the new Chief Minister of the state as he invited Edappadi K Palaniswami to form the government. He was given 15 days by the governor to prove his majority and will seek the vote of confidence on February 18.

The opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) under MK Stalin has signalled its intent to vote against him even as the Congress remained undecided.

On the eve of the vote, the Palanisamy camp on Friday got a jolt when one of its MLAs R Natraj, a former state DGP, said he would vote against the chief minister’s motion of confidence.

Natraj’s move has reduced Palanisamy’s stated support to 123 members in a House of 234. The floor test in the assembly will be the first such exercise the state will witness in about 30 years.