Chennai : The Tamil Nadu Assembly witnessed chaos on Tuesday as DMK MLAs protested Chief Minister Vijay’s references to an Enforcement Directorate (ED) document and corruption allegations against the previous DMK regime. The uproar began soon after the day’s proceedings started, when DMK Whip EV Velu demanded that references made by Vijay in his speech on Monday be expunged from the Assembly records.
Vijay had on Monday cited an ED document to allege that contractors were made to pay 7.5-10 per cent of contract values as “party funds”. He said the money was allegedly collected from works under the Municipal Administration and Water Supply Department. He also invoked the Sarkaria Commission report over the Veeranam water scheme.
Velu objected to both Vijay’s references to the DMK’s source of party funds and the Sarkaria Commission report, saying they were contrary to Assembly rules.
Speaker JCD Prabhakar refused to expunge Vijay’s remarks, saying the Chief Minister had referred only to information already in the public domain. “Whatever was discussed about Murasoli Maran (of DMK), he said so. He only spoke about ED information which is on public domain,” he said. The Speaker also said Vijay had also referred to former Chief Minister MK Stalin’s arrest under MISA and earlier discussions in the Assembly over the Sarkaria Commission. “There is nothing wrong in it and no need to expunge anything from CM speech,” he said.
Despite the Speaker’s ruling, DMK MLAs continued their protest and gathered in front of his podium, raising slogans demanding that Vijay’s remarks be removed from the records. Leader of the House KA Sengottaiyan sought action against the protesting legislators in accordance with Assembly rules. “Even after the Speaker’s verdict, DMK MLAs are causing ruckus here and hence I request you to remove them from the Assembly,” he said.
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