The missing ‘maragatha lingam’ issue pitted the AIADMK and DMK councillors against each other at the Corporation council meeting here on Wednesday.
Pandemonium prevailed for 15 minutes at the council hall as DMK members asked for a chance to speak on the ‘lingam’ issue. Irked by their demand, many ruling party members got up from their seats and charged towards them. Mayor V.V.Rajan Chellappa announced that he would not permit a discussion on the issue “since the matter is sub judice and the Corporation was conducting an enquiry following a High Court notice.”
All the 12 DMK members brought a lingam model and displayed it to the media persons. Objecting to this, the AIADMK councillors said the opposition members had no right to protest against an incident which occurred during the previous regime.
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When things went out of control, the Mayor asked the police to evict the DMK councillors who had by then removed their white shirts and displayed the black shirt underneath as a mark of protest. The double-shirt protest angered the ruling party members some of whom jumped on to the benches and jostled the opposition members.
After police intervention, the DMK councillors walked out of the house. Later Mr.Chellappa said that the decision to demolish Kunnathur Chathiram was taken in 2005 when the DMK was at the helm of the Corporation. “The resolution for demolition was passed when C.Ramachandran (DMK) was the Mayor and it was razed in 2009. So, only the DMK is responsible for the missing lingam. To whom it was given and what happened to it is not known,” the Mayor said.
He also suspended two DMK councillors — R.Arunkumar and M.Kannan — for the next meeting, citing their unruly behaviour as reason.
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Meanwhile, Corporation Commissioner R. Nanthagopal told The Hindu on Wednesday that the six-member committee formed by the Corporation to enquire into the missing emerald lingam issue is expected to complete its work in the next two to three days.