The Madras High Court has directed Chennai Police to submit a report on over 130 AIADMK lawmakers, who have not been seen since Wednesday after General Secretary VK Sasikala sent them to a five-star resort near the city in luxury buses lest they join outgoing Chief Minister O Panneerselvam's camp.
A letter by the people of Tamil Nadu to the lawmakers representing them on instant messaging platform WhatsApp is also doing the rounds. The message urges MLAs to support Panneerselvam and not Sasikala.
Panneerselvam, who challenged Sasikala's elevation to the post of the CM, claimed that the MLAs were being held "hostage" inside the resort until they were brought to Tamil Nadu Governor C Vidyasagar Rao for a show of strength. Chennai Police chief S George also met Governor Rao on Friday morning with regard to the matter. The MLAs have allegedly been forced to give up their mobile phones as well.
According to local media reports, MLA SP Shanmuganathan got down from one of the buses for a "bathroom break," but never returned only to be seen at Panneerselvam's house later. The husband of another lawmaker, Geeta, has filed a Habeas Corpus petition in court for his wife, who has been missing since Wednesday.
According to NDTV, five of the 134 lawmakers have switched sides and joined hands with Panneerselvam, who has asked for five days to prove that he has the support of the AIADMK MLAs. An online campaign "Call Your MLA" contains a list of names and phone numbers of lawmakers and urges people to choose their chief minister in a democratic manner. The list has been widely shared on Twitter as online support for Panneerselvam as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu continues to grow.
However, Sasikala's supporters in the party have said that the lawmakers are "free to move around" and that they have willingly given up their mobile phones since they are receiving threat calls. A minister from Sasikala's camp was quoted by news channel as saying that the lawmakers were lodged at the resort to "protect them from being trolled."
Meanwhile, the letter being shared on WhatsApp says:
"Dear honourable MLA: This is a voice of a Tamilian who has voted for you. We have sent several representations like water issues, proper roads, proper lighting in our locality, building of schools, but now we are asking for a Chief Minister. The news says 134 MLAs are supporting VK Sasikala, but people belonging to 234 constituencies are supporting O Panneerselvam. So, we ask you to support Mr Panneerselvam as Chief Minister. Otherwise we will boycott your offices. This is not a request from the people. This is our order. If you do this, we will be very happy. We ask you to act according to your conscience at least once in your life."
