DMK Members Suspended From TN Assembly
Chennai | Feb 07, 2013
DMK members were today suspended from the Tamil Nadu assembly for the rest of the session as the House was rocked by noisy scenes with the Treasury benches sparring with them on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

Agitated DMK members were on their feet opposing Local Administration Minister KP Munusamy's remarks against their party chief M Karunanidhi on the Lankan Tamils issue.

Deputy Speaker R Jayaraman was in the Chair when the Minister made the remarks, with some DMK MLAs trooping near him, prompting him to summon the Marshals to order their eviction en masse.

Congress members staged a walkout as various Ministers, who intervened, charged the Congress-led UPA with showing little concern towards the plight of Lankan Tamils.

Congress member K Gopinath later informed the House of the various pro-Tamil measures taken up by the Centre including a Rs 500 crore grant and taking up of housing projects for the internally displaced Tamils.

Meanwhile, Speaker P Dhanapal said the conduct of the DMK MLAs was not in consonance with the dignity of the House and they had used objectionable words and remained standing near the Chair. They had democratic means to register their protest, he said.

He said he was suspending them for the rest of the session which is scheduled to end tomorrow.

A Tiruchirapalli report quoted Stalin as having stated at a public meeting that the DMK would boycott the assembly session tomorrow as per the directive of party chief M Karunanidhi.

Stalin said they were doing so as DMK members would be "harassed" and evicted from the assembly if they pointed out the "false information" in Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's reply to the Governor's speech.

At the meeting, an amount of Rs five crore collected as election fund was handed over to Karunanidhi by former minister K N Nehru.

Stalin also sought a date from Karunanidhi for a similar meeting in other districts to collect funds.