Recalling how she had addressed the State Legislative Assembly alone as opposition leader in 2006 when all other AIADMK legislators were suspended, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Monday challenged DMK president M. Karunanidhi to come and address the Assembly.
Replying to the debate on demands for grants for the Police and Fire Service Departments, Ms. Jayalalithaa charged the DMK leadership of not having the courage to attend the Assembly and discuss the decline in law and order during the erstwhile DMK regime (2006-11).
“Did I not come alone in 2006 when all other AIADMK MLAs were suspended, to put forth the party’s views during the discussion on the Governor’s address? Has the DMK president ever had that courage? Does that person who calls himself the future leader and present Opposition Leader [Stalin] have any courage? The DMK president [Karunanidhi] has not been suspended. If he (Karunanidhi) had the courage, he would have come and spoke,” she said to the thumping of the desks by the AIADMK legislators.
Ms. Jayalalithaa spoke after the DMK (those MLAs who were not suspended), the Congress and the IUML staged a walkout following Speaker P. Dhanapal’s refusal to consider their plea to revoke the suspension of 79 DMK MLAs.
Referring to the suspension of the DMK MLAs, she said the DMK leaders were trivialising the issue by claiming that they were suspended to prevent them from participating in the police department’s budgetary demand. If the DMK MLAs believed in a healthy debate, a few of the MLAs out of the 10 who were not suspended could have spoken, she said.