Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal said that while the 15th Assembly witnessed a number of constructive debates, there were certain unsavoury incidents that he would not forget.
Speaking on the last day of the 15th Assembly, he said the incidents of February 18, 2017, would be etched in his memory.
On that day, the government, led by Edappadi K. Palaniswami, won the no-confidence motion, after violence in the House that led to the eviction of all DMK MLAs and a walkout by their allies.
“Despite what transpired that day, I forgave all of them. No action was taken against them. I still abide by the advice given by my late leader Amma [Jayalalithaa] that as the Speaker I should strictly follow the rules and regulations of the House and be neutral,” he said.
‘No personal hatred’
The Speaker said he didn’t have any personal hatred or affection while doing his job.
“As a Speaker, I make certain decisions; when they go against some persons, they show their anger on me. In fact, a separate no-confidence motion was brought against me [by the DMK] and was defeated. Although it was based on a wrong understanding of my decisions, I convey my regrets for that. If those incidents by one or two members had not been there, I would have been happier for having been given this post,” he said.
While lauding the Chief Minister for attending all the sittings of the House and for guiding his party members in the Assembly, Mr. Dhanapal commended the Opposition benches for putting forth constructive views during debates.
“Whenever it was necessary to commend and whenever it was necessary to criticise, the Leader of the Opposition [M.K. Stalin] did his job quite well,” the Speaker said.
