Opposition members stage walkout of TN assembly

Members of the Opposition parties on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Assembly complaining that Speaker P. Dhanapal denied them permission to raise issues.

Immediately after the question hour, DMK leader in the House M.K. Stalin sought permission to raise issues, saying that he had already given notice for adjourning motion to discuss 22 issues. But, the Speaker said he could speak after Chief Minister Jayalalithaa completed her suo motu statement.

When Mr. Stalin demanded that the House take up the issues for discussion, the Speaker said he could not allow a debate as replies from the departments concerned were not ready. A war of words followed between the Speaker and the DMK members and the latter staged a walkout.

CPI(M) members walked out after permission was denied to their leader A. Soundararajan to raise the 34-day-old strike by the employees of Neyveli Lignite Corporation. Members of the CPI, PMK, Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, and Puthiya Tamizhagam also left the House alleging that they were not given permission to raise issues.

Later during a debate, the DMK members took exception to Industries Minister P. Thangamani’s remarks that “you will not be here in the House when ‘Amma’ announces the investment made in the State after the Global Investors Meet.”

DMK members staged a walkout after the Speaker made it clear that the Minister had not said anything wrong.

Talking to reporters, Mr. Stalin said the government should come out with an explanation why the ‘mani mandapam’ for actor Sivaji Ganesan was not constructed all these years even though the land was allotted long ago.

“The government should also explain its stand on the efforts to remove the statue of the actor in Chennai,” he said.