Chennai: Speaker P Dhanapal manhandled, his mike ripped apart, pieces of papers thrown at him and litter strewn all over his podium. Then there were MLAs surrounding him, heckling him and marshals had to rescue him from unruly DMK MLAs who were protesting speaker’s decision rejecting demand for secret vote during trust vote in the special session held on Saturday to enable Chief Minister Edappadi Palanisami gain legal legitimacy.

Eviction of the DMK, walk out by Congress put paid to all hopes of the O Panneerselvam camp that sat stunned, but stuck to its guns voting against the trust vote. The final score line read : 122 in favor of Edapaddi Palanisami and only 11 against. It is clear that even if the Congress and the DMK were voting, Palaniswami would have won and it was why the DMK chose to create a ruckus and force an adjournment in the hope that few more days inside detention could make the MLAs more restive and some may crack and switch sides.

But the eviction came as a shock to the DMK. Or so it wanted Tamil Nadu to believe if one goes by the reaction of DMK working president MK Stalin , who immediately rushed to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to complain about the undemocratic proceedings in the assembly and then promptly sat on a dharna at Marina Beach. Only to be taken into custody by police, but he showed what he was capable of – mustering a huge crowd that the police would find difficult to handle.

And this is just the trailer. With local body elections round the corner, it is clear that Stalin would want to occupy the mind space of the masses as being opposed to the Goonda Raj from Bengaluru jail and the Mannargudi Mafia. At present, public sympathy is with OPS as he had become the hero after his revolt against Sasikala.

Earlier inside the assembly, speaker had evicted DMK’s 88 members, after giving them warnings. This is disputed by Stalin, who said, the eviction came as a surprise after the speaker had agreed to consider his request for secret voting. “I had told the speaker that the DMK members will all be quiet too,” Stalin told media persons.

The special session began with ruckus and pandemonium right from the moment go, with OPS raising the issue of illegal detention of MLAs inside the Koovathur resort and demanded secret voting. This demand was backed by the DMK and Congress MLAs too. Stalin immediately came in support and demanded secret voting. It was Stalin who demanded secret voting and also questioned as to why the MLAs were held like in a prison at Koovathur

Once this was rejected by speaker, DMK MLAs trooped into the well of the house and mobbed the speaker and all hell broke loose. Stalin had also requested the speaker to postpone the trust vote, as there was plenty of time as per the deadline given by the governor.

Broken table, litter thrown around the Speaker’s podium, his mike pulled out and his chair occupied by an MLA and the speaker himself being pulled by an MLA , his shirt torn a little and having to be rescued by marshals, were the scenes played out during the special session for trust vote.

Two MLAs Kuka Selvam and Ranganathan sat on the speaker’s chair. Another MLA held a chair and was threatening to hurl it across. Couple of MLAs were standing on chairs.

It was amidst absolute pandemonium Tamil Nadu Speaker P Dhanapal asked the chief minister to move the resolution seeking confidence of the vote.

With the strength of those present in the house and voting reduced to 133, Palanisami needed only 67 MLAs to prove majority. But he secured all the 122 MLAs who were brought to the house from Koovathur.

AIADMK Sasikala group supporters celebrated the victory even as OPS went into a down but not out mood and vowed to fight to the finish. He will be embarking on a state wide tour to move the peoples court against the “traitors of Amma”.