Tamil Nadu crisis: Panneerselvam meets Governor, DMK calls for statewide hunger strike on Feb 22

DMK has announced a statewide hunger strike on February 22 against the trust vote in Tamil Nadu assembly.

Chennai: A day after a massive ruckus in Tamil Nadu assembly during the vote of confidence, DMK on Sunday announced a statewide hunger strike on February 22. The party announced the hunger strike at all district offices of the party in Tamil Nadu.

The party's announcement comes a day after its working president MK Stalin was forced out from near Gandhi statue at Marina beach along with his partymen while sitting in protest yesterday.

On the other hand, former Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam has reached the Raj Bhavan today to meet Tamil Nadu Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao.

On Sunday morning, the party MLAs met at their headquarters and DMK leader Tiruchi Siva said the trust vote moved by Chief Minister yesterday was 'illegal'.

Siva has confirmed that the party has submitted a memorandum on the issue to Tamil Nadu Governor who has promised to look into the matter.

"Sans participation of Opposition in Assembly, the trust vote moved by Chief Minister was passed. It's illegal. We've submitted a memorandum on the issue to TN Governor. He has promised to look into the matter," he told the media after meeting the Governor today.

Stalin had held a special meeting with party MLAs at DMK headquarters following which some members of the party met with Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao.

Yesterday, Stalin along with several protesting DMK MPs and MLAs were detained by the Chennai Police for staging a demonstration at Marina Beach against the floor test result. 

Hours after the trust vote, the DMK wrote to Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao dubbing the floor test conducted in the absence of his party members as foul and unconstitutional.

"The agenda of the Speaker is to go ahead with voting and announce that the Chief Minister has succeeded in getting the confidence of the House, in the absence of the DMK members. This is totally a foul play and unconstitutional," the letter stated.

The letter further requested the Governor to restore democratic values and order the Assembly postponement for conducting a secret voting on Confidence Motion.

"We request the Governor to restore democratic values and order postponement of the Assembly for conducting secret voting on the Confidence Motion," it read.

Amid the uproar in the Tamil Nadu Assembly during Saturday`s much-anticipated floor test, Palanisamy won the vote of confidence with 122 MLAs supporting him.

The floor test took place in Block Two of the Tamil Nadu assembly.