Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Tuesday witnessed acrimonious scenes prompting Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam to urge Speaker P. Dhanapal to punish the members who exchanged vulgar words and indulged in unruly behaviour.
On a request from the Chief Minister, the Speaker ruled that media should not describe the gestures made by the members (both ruling and opposition benches) in the House.
“You (Speaker) should punish them,” said Mr. Panneerselvam. The Speaker responded saying, “I condemn their behaviour. I will go through the Assembly (video) records and take action.”
The trouble began when Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar took exception to DMK Deputy Leader Durai Murugan referring to late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa by her name. “She was a leader of 10 crore Tamils. You have no locus standi to refer to her by her name,” argued Mr. Jayakumar. The DMK leaders refused to relent, saying that even the Governor’s address had reference to her name.
At one point, numerous members from the ruling party and the opposition joined the slanging match and even some senior ministers found it difficult to control their colleagues. The DMK members rushed to the well of the House and entered into an argument with the ruling party members. For 20 minutes, the House plunged into pandemonium and whatever both sides uttered were lost in the din.
Mr. Dhanapal said as the House was witnessing a good debate, the members should cooperate with him to run the proceedings peacefully.
On Tuesday, the House was full as Opposition leader M.K. Stalin was speaking on the Governor’s address to the Assembly. When ministers frequently intervened, the DMK members raised objection saying that Mr. Stalin should be allowed to complete his speech. Both the Chief Minister and Speaker said the ministers had the responsibility to intervene and clarify when there were allegations pertaining to their portfolios.
“When our Amma (Jayalalithaa) spoke in the Assembly in 2006, she faced 67 interventions from the DMK ministers,” said Mr. Panneerselvam.
The Speaker said he was ready to give adequate time to Mr. Stalin to complete his speech and even requested the ministers to give their response after he completed his speech. When Mr. Durai Murugan wanted to know why the Speaker was not allowing the opposition members to raise point of order and clarification as per the Assembly proceedings, Mr. Dhanapal said it could be raised only if he intended to allow them.
Mr. Durai Murugan made the reference to Jayalalithaa when he recalled a letter written by her to former Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee to counter the arguments of Chief Minister Panneerselvam against the DMK.
