Cattle slaughter row: DMK's Stalin gets a surprise as AIADMK ally MLAs support him in Assembly
Much to the surprise of Stalin while he staged a walkout from the Assembly, 3 more MLAs supported him.
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) is once again countering Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami over Centre's restriction on cattle sale and the response of EPS on the matter.
But much to the surprise of DMK's working president MK Stalin's surprise, he had the support of the AIADMK allied MLAs in the Assembly today.
The Opposition leader raised the issue on amendments brought by the Centre to the Prevention of Cruelty Towards Animals Act, by which cattle owners cannot sell the animal in a market for slaughter. Stalin claimed that it would affect dairy farmers and indirectly affect the food pattern of many Indians and demanded an answer from the chief minister over the issue.
CM Palaniswami, however, explained that various cases are pending in the Madras High Court, its Madurai branch and the Supreme Court as well, and that he will reveal his stance soon.
STALIN WALKS OUT OF ASSEMBLY
As usual, unhappy with the chief minister's response, Stalin staged a walkout but was quite surprised to be followed by three MLAs but not from DMK. The MLAs included Karunas, Thameemun Ansari and Thaniyarasu who fought the election under 'twin leaves' symbol and pledged their allegiance to Jayalalithaa.
The AIADMK MLAs gave the same reason as Stalin for staging a 'walkout' and in fact Thameemun Ansari even had a banner in his hand to emphasize on the situation.
However, sources said that these three MLAs were unhappy over the fact that team EPS did not side with them when they were alleged to have taken money to vote for EPS in the 'vote of confidence' motion held on February 18 in the Assembly. This also led them to side with TTV Dinakaran boosting his MLA numbers to 37.
Also read: How cattle slaughter rules threaten economy, revolt in South India