Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal on Tuesday suspended DMK MLA J. Anbazhagan from taking part in the House proceedings for three days until January 9. The decision was taken after the legislator representing Chepauk-Triplicane constituency tore a copy of the Governor’s address and threw it before the Speaker.
Certain remarks (since expunged) made by him against Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani led to acrimonious scenes in the House. Eventually when the Speaker cut Mr. Anbazhagan’s speech short, he walked up to the Chair, tore a copy of the Governor’s address and threw it on the Speaker’s desk.
When a visibly agitated Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami attempted to seek action against the DMK MLA, Speaker P. Dhanapal proposed suspension of Mr. Anbazhagan from the House until the end of the session, which was seconded by Leader of the House O. Panneerselvam.
The Speaker said it was not the first time Mr. Anbazhagan was involved in actions like these and a warning must be issued with suspension.
But later in the day, on the request of DMK Deputy Floor Leader Duraimurugan, the duration of Mr. Anbazhagan’s suspension was eventually reduced to three days until January 9 (though the House Business will end on that day, the session has not been prorogued).
Short of eviction
Earlier in the day, Mr. Panneerselvam proposed that Mr. Anbazhagan be evicted following his remarks against Mr. Velumani.
However, the action was dropped on the intervention of DMK president M.K. Stalin, who while not defending his party legislator’s action, contended that Mr. Velumani and some Ministers too had made unacceptable remarks after Mr. Anbazhagan spoke.
Eventually, leaders of both parties agreed to “forgive and forget” Mr. Anbazhagan’s actions and move on.
The Chief Minister said though there was no issue with any DMK member in the House, Mr. Anbazhagan was deliberately speaking to provoke.
On his part, Mr. Duraimurugan questioned whether the Leader of the House was waiting for an opportunity to suspend the DMK MLA and hence had necessary papers ready from which he read out the proposal to suspend. Mr. Panneerselvam vehemently denied the claim.
