Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam members were evicted from the Assembly on Tuesday following a verbal altercation with the Speaker.
When the demand for grants for Dairy Development was taken up, the Speaker, P. Dhanapal, announced that the DMDK members would be allowed to speak last, as whenever they were asked to speak, it ended in a walkout. This amounted to wasting Assembly time.
The Finance Minister, O. Panneerselvam, charged that the DMDK members did not properly utilise the opportunity given to them to speak. Hence, a decision to call them to speak last was taken in consultation with House leaders of all political parties, he said.
ADVERTISEMENT
Agitated over the announcement, the DMDK members squatted in the well of the House. The Speaker ordered the watch and ward staff to remove them for disrupting the Assembly proceedings.
Earlier, the Speaker announced that DMK members would be allowed to participate in the rest of the budget session despite being evicted thrice. Assembly Rules stipulate that a member evicted twice in a session could not participate in the rest of the session, Mr. Dhanapal said.
On Tuesday, the DMK members, J. Anbazhagan and S. S. Sivasankar, who came up with a call attention motion, were removed from the House following heated exchanges.
ADVERTISEMENT