TN stares at administrative vacuum with ‘sulking’ CM, no local body heads
POLITICAL STALEMATE With OPS’ rebellion against Sasikala, polls to local bodies on hold due to legal challenges and many Jayalalithaa loyalists leaving the govt or being replaced, the state has plunged into an unprecedented crisis
A political turmoil within the AIADMK has plunged Tamil Nadu into an unprecedented crisis with no elected mayors, panchayat heads or city councils across the state.
Caretaker chief minister O Panneerselvam’s dramatic rebellion against general secretary VK Sasikala on Tuesday threatens to split the party and derail an otherwise smooth transition after former CM Jayalalithaa’s death.
But Tamil Nadu’s administrative lurch extends far beyond the state government headquarters at Chennai’s Fort St George.
Across the state, city corporations, municipal areas, and panchayats are being administered by special officers because local body elections have not yet been held.
Municipal elections were cancelled last October after the poll notification faced several legal challenges. This means that large swathes of Tamil Nadu are being run by bureaucrats without a working political leadership.
To make things worse, many senior bureaucrats appointed by Jayalalithaa who had experience in steering the state through difficult times have either left the government or been replaced by Sasikala.
Santha Sheela Nair, a retired IAS officer who was appointed as a special attache to the chief minister’s office, resigned on Tuesday citing “personal reasons.”
Last Friday, a mere two days before Sasikala was appointed leader of the AIADMK legislative party, Sheela Balakrishnan — a close assistant of Jayalalithaa who helped run the state during the former CM’s 75-day hospitalisation — also quit.
Two other Jaya loyalists, KN Venkataramanan and A Ramalingam who were secretaries in the chief minister’s office, were also replaced.
The council of ministers itself has been paralysed by the Both the Cong and BJP packed their MLAs to resorts before a crucial trust vote to prevent poaching. The Congress led by won the vote.
The Congress reportedly kept independent MLAs in a hotel in Mumbai to prevent poaching by the rival BJP for the RS polls. After criticism, the MLAs were allowed to come back.
A group of 20 MLAs were kept in a Gurgaon resort reportedly by Dorjee Khandu, who had rebellion.
Before being packed off to a resort on Wednesday, the ministers spent their time shuffling between the party headquarters in Royapettah and Jayalalithaa’s official residence in Poes Garden, where Sasikala is staying now.
The political vacuum has exacerbated the state’s potent engineered a rebellion against the then CM , to become CM. Nine years later, his son Pema Khandu used similar tactic to topple Pul’s govt.
To prevent
govt from falling, the BJP ferried about half a dozen independent MLA’s to a resort in Rajasthan. A year later, these MLAs supported Madhu Koda, who formed the govt with the help of the Cong and the RJD.
LJP MLAs were kept in a Jamsedhpur hotel to help JD(U)-BJP combine to form a non-RJD govt. The BJP in Jharkhand provided logistical support to the MLAs. problems - from the worst drought in 140 years, and the resultant farmer suicides to acute water shortages.
Acting governor Vidyasagar Rao’s silence on the matter has further added to the uncertainty. Several senior leaders, including Congress’ Abhishek Manu Singhvi, have accused the BJP of manipulating Rao for political A luxury resort, 80 km from Chennai, is at the centre of a storm in Tamil Nadu where AIADMK leaders O Panneerselvam and Sasikala are pitted against each other. On Wednesday, around 130 party MLAs were herded to the resort by Sasikala faction in a bid to ward off poaching threats. But this isn’t the first time such a political drama is unfolding. Tamil Nadu and other states have seen similar developments, with varying results.
BSP kept its MLAs at a secret location to allegedly prevent poaching by the SP, which had won the most number of seats. SP’s
was short of about 50 MLAs in a house of 403 and was looking to break the rival BSP. The move helped the BSP to form the govt with BJP.
The Cong and RJD kept their MLAs from south Bihar (now J’khand) in a Patna hotel to prevent Nitish Kumar from luring them. Kumar became CM for seven days when the RJD failed to submit its list of supporters within stipulated time but lost vote on floor of the house. The BJP Kept its MLAs at a secret location in Delhi to prevent Congress from poaching them after govt was dismissed. Singh won the floor test and became CM again.
CM confined his loyalists in hotels in Hyderabad, Delhi and
Bangalore after he was sacked by Governor in an Independence Day coup by his cabinet colleague Nadendla Bhaskara Rao. Lal was eventually sacked and replaced by another Cong man Shankar Dayal Sharma. gain in Tamil Nadu.
It is still unclear what course of action Rao will take upon landing in Chennai later on Thursday afternoon.
But either way, what is clear is that a decision is needed, and quickly, to prevent further strains on an already overtaxed administration.
n Tuesday night, the state had witnessed a dramatic turn of events with Panneerselvam revolting against party legislative leader Sasikala.
Panneerselvam said he was compelled to resign from the chief minister’s position by the Sasikala camp, an allegation that was later denied by the AIADMK general secretary.
Some 200 years ago, the prosperous Paliwal Brahmin community abandoned its villages near Jaisalmer in western Rajasthan on a single night. Ever since, the ruins of the villages, considered “haunted”, are closed to tourists after sunset.
There is no official record of the evacuation in the early 19th century, but according to popular folklore, the inhabitants fled fearing persecution by Salim Singh, a minister of a princely state.
Centuries later, a four-member team of geologists examining the collapsed roofs, fallen joists, lintels and pillars in Kuldhara and Khabha villages attributed the desolate houses to an earthquake that flattened 84 villages.
The idea is based on evidence of recent tectonic activity along major faults in the region that make it susceptible to seismic activity. “Archaeologists must excavate the area. Fault lines and skeletons are bound to be seen,” said AB Roy, geologist, lead investigator, and fellow of Indian National Academy of Sciences.
Around 18km from Jaisalmer,