Chaos prevailed in the Assembly on Thursday, culminating in the suspension of 20 DMDK members from the ongoing session. The Speaker’s podium was slightly damaged and files were torn up in the pandemonium, which was the consequence of a remark on the former Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, by Deputy Leader of the Opposition S. Mohanraj. His comment, which was immediately expunged, came as a rebuttal to an AIADMK member taking a dig at DMDK president and Leader of Opposition Vijayakant.
The House turned uproarious soon after question hour when an AIADMK member, during the debate on the Governor’s address, took a swipe at an alleged personal habit of Mr. Vijayakant, who was absent from the House.
This was followed by a strong reaction from the DMDK contingent. They stormed to the well of the House and demanded that the “disparaging remark” on Mr. Vijayakant be removed from records. Peace was restored for a bit following the intervention of Speaker P. Dhanapal.
But during his turn to speak on the Governor’s address, Mr. Mohanraj made a remark on Ms. Jayalalithaa that offended the AIADMK members. This comment was immediately expunged from records even as all AIADMK members stood up demanding action.
Minutes later, the Speaker ordered the eviction of Mr. Mohanraj for “obstructing the functioning of the House” after he refused to heed to the advice of the Chair to not make the expunged remarks against Ms. Jayalalithaa repeatedly.
When the marshals tried to remove Mr. Mohanraj, other DMDK members, including DMDK whip V.C. Chandirakumar, resisted, leading to a melee.
In the process, the Speaker’s podium was slightly damaged and files from nearby tables were torn up. The MLAs later squatted outside the hall and raised slogans against the eviction.
Mr. Dhanapal described the action of the DMDK members as a “historic low” in the annals of the Assembly’s history. He termed the attack “murderous.”
In the meantime, the House adopted a resolution moved by the Leader of the House and Minister Natham R. Viswanathan, urging the reference of the matter to the Privileges Committee and suspending them for the rest of the session
Previous instances of disruption in TN Assembly
Riot over majority vote for Janaki Ramachandran, wife of former Chief Minister MGR. Riot police lathicharge MLAs, who were hitting one another with mike stands, footwear.
Former Chief Minister Karunanidhi’s sunglasses broken, Jayalalithaa attacked as MLAs wrangled over State budget. Document torn up.
AIADMK MLA R. Thamaraikkani arrested for punching Agriculture Minister Veerapandi Arumugam in the nose.
DMDK rebel Tamil Azhagan mobbed by MLAs for exhorting support for ruling party.
