The chief whip of AIADMK S. Rajendran on Friday met Tamil Nadu assembly speaker P. Dhanapal and filed a petition to take action against three party MLAs on account of their "anti-party activities."
The three legislators have been identified as E A Rathinasabapathi, MLA of Aranthangi constituency, A Prabu from Kallakuruchi constituency and VT Kalaiselvan from Virudhachalam constituency.
Rajendran has accused the MLAs of working for Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) General Secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran.
Out of 234 seats in Tamil Nadu assembly, the ruling AIADMK has 114 members, the DMK has 88, the Congress has eight, while the IUML and the Independent members represent one constituency each.
In 2017, a total of 19 AIADMK MLAs had submitted a letter to then Governor CV Rao withdrawing support to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami. As a retort, Rajendran asked Dhanapal to disqualify the MLAs stating that their actions amounted to voluntarily giving up their party membership.
Tamil Nadu Speaker had on September 18 disqualified 18 MLAs belonging to AIADMK. By-elections for these 18 seats were held on April 18 this year.