Tamil Nadu tussle: How Stalin's DMK will win this war

AIADMK General Secretary Sasikala's proxy, E Palaniswami, may have won the floor test. However, the power tussle in the Tamil Nadu Assembly has established one thing for sure that Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and Stalin are the real winners.

Emerging from the shadows, the Stalin camp has now come to represent a strong opposition that Tamil Nadu so desperately needs. 

The DMK has been protesting against the manner in which Chief Minister E Palaniswami won the trust motion in the Assembly and have even filed a petition in Madras High Court.

The AIADMK camp under Palaniswami may have passed the floor test convincingly but the people of Tamil Nadu are far from being impressed. A total of 122 AIADMK MLAs voted for Palaniswami, 11 voted against him. But does AIADMK stand a chance, if it has to face elections?

In its petition, the Tamil Nadu Opposition party under DMK has raised a legal ground on which Palaniswami's nomination as the state CM would be considered null and void. 

The question now is, does DMK have any chance in the court? Can the High Court declare the trust vote "invalid"? 

Definitely, as there is already is a precedence.  Almost 30 years back, the then Chief Minister  Janaki was thrown out of power 23-days after winning the trust vote. 

The trust vote was declared null and void after it was found that the 1988 confidence motion was rigged by then Speaker P H Pandian. The Janaki government was dismissed using Article 356 and elections were held in 1989, which brought the DMK back into power under the leadership of M Karunanidhi after over 13 years.

The power struggle has acutely established Stalin as a strong leader, on the other it has once against exposed O Panneerselvam's position as a mere shadow, who holds no real power even as an opposition.

• Tamil nadu
• AiADMK
• Stalin
• Chief Minister