Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) MLA L. Venkatesan was suspended on Thursday for the entire session of the Assembly after he refused to heed the orders of the Chair. He was objecting to a remark by a Minister that his party members suspected to be against their leader Vijayakant.
When K.T. Rajendrabalaji, Minister for Information and Special Projects Implementation, was replying to a debate on the demands for grants to his department, he referred to the indecision of some parties on contesting the by-elections to the Pudukottai Assembly constituency.
All the DMDK members raised their voice against a word that he had uttered which they considered it an insinuation against Mr. Vijayakant, Leader of the Opposition.
The Speaker, D. Jayakumar, allowed DMDK whip V.C. Chandhirakumar to raise his objection while directing others to take their seats. However, Mr. Venkatesan continued to make some remarks and the Speaker ordered the marshals to evict him from the House as his behaviour was against its decorum.
Leader of the House and Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam moved a resolution seeking Mr.Venkatesan's suspension for the entire session of the Assembly. It was immediately passed by the House.
Mr. Panneerselvam wondered why Mr. Venkatesan should utter something unparliamentary as the Minister did not say anything that could be deemed “unparliamentary.”
Besides, the particular word was not specifically directed against anyone. “How is his behaviour justified?” he asked. If at all the words of the Minister had hurt the DMDK members, his party whip was always free to express his opinion.
Mr. Chandhirakumar, while promising that his party would continue to co-operate with the Speaker, wanted the word that hurt the sentiments of his partymen expunged from the Assembly proceedings.
The Speaker, who obliged him by expunging the word, said what was at stake was the prestige of the Chair and not that of the individual.
“When I am always prepared to permit your whip to speak on the issue, I don't know why Mr.Venkatesan should resort to such behaviour,” he added.
When the Minister had not named anyone, he wondered why the member should get agitated.
