CHENNAI: DMK legislators were bundled out of the Tamil Nadu assembly on Tuesday after a stormy confrontation over chief minister C Joseph Vijay’s remarks on late chief minister M Karunanidhi, former Union minister Murasoli Maran, the Sarkaria Commission and ED dossiers relating to cases pending before courts.The dramatic scenes unfolded after speaker J C D Prabhakar refused to expunge Vijay’s remarks, prompting DMK members to raise slogans and staged a sit-in protest on the well of the House. As the protesting members refused to return to their seats despite repeated appeals, the speaker ordered marshals to remove them.The confrontation began during Zero Hour when DMK whip E V Velu raised objections to Vijay’s remarks made during his reply to the demands for grants for the home department on Monday. Velu accused the CM of making baseless allegations and referring to pending cases, saying this went against the traditions of the House.Referring to the Sarkaria Commission, Velu said late chief minister M G Ramachandran was the principal complainant but later told the commission that he had “no idea whatsoever” about the complaint and that it had been drafted by a party functionary, Kannan from Salem. “At the conclusion, Sarkaria made it clear that there was no prima facie case in all the 28 allegations. Therefore, there was no provision for filing any case,” Velu said.He referred to DK leader K Veeramani and Left leaders being booked under MISA, like DMK leader M K Stalin, and said Vijay’s remarks had demeaned their democratic struggle.Ministers Aadhav Arjuna and R Nirmalkumar defended the CM, saying Vijay had referred to the Sarkaria Commission report and other publicly available documents as part of his fight against corruption. They accused the DMK of being the “root of corruption.”Former minister Govi Chezhiaan then posed three questions to the treasury benches: whether the CM could cite ED dossiers as evidence when the cases were pending before courts? whether the Sarkaria Commission could be selectively used for political gains when it had not found anyone guilty of corruption? and why Vijay had chosen to refer to late leaders such as Murasoli Maran?With no response forthcoming from either the treasury benches or the speaker, DMK intensified its protest.The situation turned chaotic after speaker Prabhakar ruled that there was “no need to expunge the CM’s remarks”. He said Vijay had merely referred to the Sarkaria Commission, whose findings had been discussed in the House earlier, and that the CM’s speech was within the rules of the assembly.The ruling triggered a fresh round of protests, with DMK MLAs raising slogans and sitting in the well, keeping the moments tense for nearly 45 minutes, starting from 9.31am and ending at about 10.11am. In between, the speaker also cautioned minister Aadhav Arjuna for his remarks that they would also match the opposition.The speaker repeatedly asked the members to return to their seats and offered to allow Velu and deputy leader of the opposition K N Nehru to speak on the issue. But the DMK members refused to relent.
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“I will not reverse my ruling,” Prabhakar asserted before directing marshals to remove the protesting MLAs. He cautioned Kallakurichi MLA Vasantham K Karthikeyan against approaching the Chair.Marshals entered the House at about 10.08am and physically removed several MLAs who refused to leave the well, including Kutty alias A Sudhakar of Valparai, Durai Chandrasekaran of Thiruvaiyaru and Vasantham Karthikeyan of Rishivandiyam.Later in the day, Chezhiaan moved a privilege motion against Vijay, accusing the CM of making “baseless allegations” and citing reports connected to cases pending before courts during his reply to the demands for grants for the home department.
