Ex-AIADMK minister Vijayabaskar resigns as MLA

FHaliotis tuberculata AIADMK government minister, heretical leader C Vijayabaskar on tues resigned from his MLA carry and submitted a letter to Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar.The letter of resignation was handwritten by Vijayabaskar, and it was in order and complies with the Assembly Rules and hence it was duly accepted, Prabhakar said in an official release.Vijayabaskar, a former minister who held the health portfolio in the previous AIADMK regime, represented Viralimalai in Pudukkottai District.Also Read: TN speaker issues showcause notices to four ex-AIADMK MLAs in TVKHe was among the AIADMK rebel leaders who voted in favour of the TVK regime in the trust vote held in the Assembly on May 13.Earlier, four other AIADMK MLAs had resigned as legislators and later joined the ruling TVK.Before resigning as MLA, Vijayabaskar had, without directly naming AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami, hit out at him saying leadership was not about power or arrogance and it was all about taking along everyone with commitment.Also Read: 4 former AIADMK ministers, 6 ex-MLAs join TVK, cite lack of respectIn a social media post, the former health minister said: "Leadership is neither authority nor arrogance…it is dedicated embrace."Further, he said: "How can a leadership win the hearts of the people when it cannot win the hearts of its cadres who slog for the party? Is a true journey even possible in a place where feelings are not respected? #JustAsking."Exodus of prominent facesSince the May 4 Assembly election results, the AIADMK has been grappling with an escalating rebellion within its ranks. The first major setback came on May 13, when 25 rebel MLAs defied the party whip and voted in favour of the confidence motion moved by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay in the Assembly.The dissent has since snowballed into a steady exodus of leaders to the ruling TVK. On Saturday, four former AIADMK ministers — Kadambur Raju, Udumalai Radhakrishnan, M C Sampath and N R Sivapathy — joined the ruling party, citing a lack of respect and internal democracy within the AIADMK.They were joined by six former AIADMK MLAs — Sundararaj, Rajamuthu, Manraj, Rajavarman, Panneerselvam and Govindasamy — as well as former MP A Ilavarasan. Two former DMK MLAs, P Kamaraj and M S Shanmugam, also joined the TVK in the presence of party leaders N Anand and Aadhav Arjuna in Chennai.Vijayabaskar's resignation marks the latest setback for the AIADMK, which has struggled to contain internal dissent following its defeat in the Assembly elections.