There was ruckus in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday after Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MLAs brought packets of gutkha, a banned substance, into the Legislature.
The DMK MLAs waved the packets of gutkha in the Assembly to prove that the banned substance was still available in the market contrary to assertions by the government that it is not available at all.
Speaker P. Dhanapal called it breach of privilege for bringing a banned substance inside Assembly and referred it to the Privileges Committee. Following this, DMK members staged a walkout.
TN Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said the DMK should have taken the gutkha to the police for action. DMK has brought in a banned substance only to defame the AIADMK government, he said. “If they (DMK) had any good intention, they should have taken it to the police for action to be taken on those who sold these,” he said.
Earlier, The Hindu had exclusively reported that according to a letter written by the I-T department to the T.N. government, a leading gutka manufacturer had allegedly paid senior bureaucrats, police officers, and a top minister to facilitate the sale of banned gutkha in Chennai.
The letter sought further investigation into suspected bribes of almost ₹40 crore paid to a Minister and top officials.
(With inputs by Rohit T.K.)
