A total of 15 AIADMK MLAs were evicted from the Assembly on Monday after they displayed placards in the House without the permission of the Speaker. The other AIADMK MLAs too were not allowed to wear any badges that had wordings while participating in the Assembly proceedings.
As 14 out of the 15 AIADMK MLAs evicted on Monday were sent out for the second time during the ongoing session, Speaker M. Appavu initially said they could not take part in the rest of the session. The Speaker eventually reduced the suspension period to a day (Monday) following a request made by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin.
Earlier in the day, some AIADMK MLAs took out the placards they had when their leader was not allowed to raise an issue in the House. Before staging a walkout, some AIADMK MLAs held the placards.
The Speaker ordered their eviction from the House. Later in the day, the Speaker said when an issue was pending in the court, it could not be discussed in the House. Citing relevant rules, the Speaker said these MLAs could not take part in the Assembly proceedings during the ongoing session as per the norms.
However, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin requested him to reconsider. Following his request, the Speaker reduced it to a day (Monday).
Mr. Stalin, while speaking about the placards held by some of the AIADMK MLAs, said they had the wordings ‘Who is that thiyagi?’. Deriding those who “fell at the feet of somebody to escape from the cases they were involved in”, Mr. Stalin contended that the AIADMK party workers were the thiyagis. The person, “who fell at the feet of the woman for the post of the Chief Minister” was the thiyagi, Mr. Stalin said.
When some of the AIADMK MLAs returned to the House to take part in the proceedings, the Speaker said they would be allowed only if they remove the badges that had some wordings. AIADMK’s K.A. Sengottaiyan obliged and removed the badge when he spoke on the call attention motion in the House.
When AIADMK deputy floor leader R.B. Udhayakumar pleaded against the restriction, the Speaker requested them to follow Mr. Sengottaiyan by removing the badge with the wordings. Later, party whip S.P. Velumani along with Mr. Udhayakumar and a few others left the House.
A few AIADMK MLAs, however, stayed in the House for sometime without the badge. All through, AIADMK’s Paul Manoj Pandian and P. Ayyappan (owing allegiance to party expelled coordinator O. Panneerselvam) did not wear the badges.
Published – April 07, 2025 09:59 pm IST