Nine All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Members of the Legislative Assembly were suspended for the rest of the session on Monday, triggering a walkout by most of the Opposition and the organisation of a mock Assembly session outside the Assembly Hall.
After the Assembly condoled the death of four former MLAs, Speaker R. Avudaiappan referred to the incidents in the House on Friday last, the inaugural day of the present session when Governor Surjit Singh Barnala delivered his customary address. Subsequently, K. Anbazhagan, Leader of the House and Finance Minister, moved a motion for suspending nine MLAs of the AIADMK, which was adopted by a voice vote.
The suspended MLAs are Pollachi V. Jayaraman, G. Hari, K. Pandurangan, S.P. Velumani, D. Jayakumar, L. Ravichandran, Agri S.S. Krishnamoorthy, V. Senthil Balaji and C.Ve. Shanmugam.
Immediately after the Speaker gave his ruling, members of the AIADMK, Communist Party of India, CPI (Marxist) and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam walked out of the House to express their protest.
During Zero Hour, the Opposition raised the issue. K.A. Sengottaiyan, AIADMK whip, wanted the Speaker to reconsider the decision to suspend the members. He pointed out that when members of the Opposition staged a protest in Karnataka recently during the address by the Governor (H.R. Bhardwaj) to the Legislature, it was the Governor who had left the House. Mr. Anbazhagan countered him, saying that only the Legislature of Tamil Nadu could guide its functioning, not any other State's legislature.
Later, K. Balabharathy, V. Sivapunniyam and T. Sadhan Thirumalaikumar, floor leaders of the CPI(M), CPI and MDMK respectively, appealed to the Speaker to reconsider the suspension of the members.
Mr. Sengottaiyan wanted to make further observations, but Mr. Avudaiappan refused to allow him to say anything more.
When the AIADMK members raised slogans, the Leader of the House said that the matter could be raised before the Business Advisory Committee but the Opposition could not use it to disrupt the proceedings of the House.
At this point, the Opposition members staged a walkout again. Later, they held a two-hour-long sit-in on the passage leading to the Assembly, with AIADMK member D. Jayakumar in the chair.
The rise in the price of onions, 2G spectrum scam and the Niira Radia phone conversation recordings were some of the issues that came up for discussion in the mock Assembly.
When a member raised the 2G spectrum scam, CPI(M) leader Balabharathy said the word “scam” should be expunged from the records.
Even as the mock Assembly was in progress, police led by Joint Commissioner R. Seshasayee asked them to disperse as they were blocking the entrance.
The MLAs dispersed after the day's proceedings of the House were over.
