2 ex-mins of AIADMK take oath as MLAs in front of Stalin

In a political twist, two former AIADMK ministers C Vijaya Baskar and Kadambur Raju took oath in the presence of DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin.

The other two AIADMK MLAs R Vaithilingam and Esaki Subbiah took the oath before the arrival of the DMK president and left the Secretariat after saying a bye to other AIADMK MLAs.

Interestingly, the CM who arrived on time marked his presence as a goodwill gesture when the Opposition AIADMK MLAs took oath.

However, official sources at the Secretariat said that it was a diplomatic gesture between the CM and the MLAs. Even AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam and the former Speaker P Dhanapal attended the swearing-in of Chief Minister Stalin. However, an informed AIADMK senior said, “The swearing-in of Vijaya Baskar and Kadambur Raju in the presence of CM Stalin and DMK general secretary Duraimurugan had not gone well among the AIADMK seniors.” Such things never happened when Amma (Jayalalithaa) was alive and an unusual bonding is developing between the arch-rivals DMK and a section of AIADMK seniors, he rued.

Minister for backward classes SS Sivasankar and Minister for Tourism M Mathiventhan also took oath as MLAs and were greeted by the DMK leaders. Both the Ministers, tested COVID positive after the cabinet swearing-in function at Raj Bhavan on May 7 and missed the Assembly session. They have recovered from the infection now.

It may be noted that DT Next carried a story hinting that a few AIADMK functionaries are inching towards the DMK.