Plea seeks disqualification of TN CM, four cabinet colleagues

A petition has been filed in Madras High Court seeking disqualification of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami and four of his cabinet colleagues.
Petitioner T Anazhagan, a son of former AIADMK MLA, late Tamaraikani, in his PIL contended that the "admission" that their government was being run on the advise of AIADMK General Secretary V K Sasikala, serving a prison term in a graft case, showed that the Chief Minister and his colleagues have violated the Constitution.
Justices A Selvam and Athinathan of the Madras High Court bench posted the matter for April 11 for hearing on maintainability.
Sasikala had been convicted in the Disproportionate Assets case by the Supreme Court and is undergoing imprisonment in a Bengaluru jail.

The party's spokesperson, Gowri Shankar, had on February 22 in an interview to a private TV channel said that the government would be run "on the advice and guidance of AIADMK General secretary Sasikala," the petitioner said, adding no minister had denied his statement.
Besides on February 28 four ministers -- Sellur K Raju, Kamaraj, K A Sengottaiyan and Dindigul Srinivasan -- had admitted that they had met Sasikala in prison and had discussed the functioning of the government, he submitted.

"This open admission confirmed Gowrishankar's statement that the government was being run as per the advice of Sasikala. The action of the ministers and their statement that they were being guided by Sasikala,who is a convict,is against Article 188 of the Constitution (oath or affirmation by members) and violation of the oath of secrecy," he said

The Chief Minister also had not given any view against the statement of the ministers, nor had he denied it.
The petitioner sought the intervention of the court and an order disqualifying the Chief Minister and the four cabinet colleagues and a direction to the Speaker and Assembly Secretary to do the same.