Chennai: A day after the merger of two AIADMK factions, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami faced his first major crisis as 19 MLAs belonging to the T.T.V. Dhinakaran faction submitted letters to Governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao expressing lack of confidence in the Chief Minister and withdrawing support to him.

As things stand now Palaniswami falls short of a simple majority by one seat.

The 19 AIADMK rebel MLAs called on the Governor this morning at Raj Bhavan and submitted individual letters withdrawing their support to Palaniswami. In identical letters addressed to the Governor, the MLAs stated that the Chief Minister has “forfeited” their confidence and that of the public and hence they were withdrawing their support earlier extended to the Tamil Nadu CM.