AIADMK walks out in protest of denial of permission to raise Tasmac issue

CHENNAI: Members of the opposition AIADMK walked out of the Assembly on Tuesday after the Speaker denied Leader of Opposition Edappadi Palaniswami permission to raise an issue related to Tasmac during the debate on demand for grants for the Electricity and Excise/Prohibition Department.

As former Electricity Minister 'Natham' R Viswanathan, who took part in the debate on demand for grants for the electricity department, exceeded the stipulated time of 10 minutes, Speaker M Appavu sounded the alarm and reminded him of the expiry of his allotted time.

Momentarily, EPS rose and attempted to raise an issue related to Tasmac, which was also among the departments taken up for debate on Tuesday. However, the Speaker said, "You (AIADMK) proposed two speakers from your party to speak on the demand for grants. Only three members of the ruling DMK have been provided an opportunity to speak today, though they are eligible for four."

Joining the issue with EPS, Leader of the House Duraimurugan said that the LoP was entitled to raise any issue, but he could have raised it during the Zero Hour. The Speaker questioned the fairness of the LoP's demand and said that the issue EPS was flagging now could be raised by the second AIADMK MLA when the latter participated in the debate on demand for grants.

Duraimurugan added that if the LoP insisted, he could speak instead of his other party MLA Senthilkumar. Responding to the remarks made by the LoP off the record, the Speaker pointed to the treasury benches and said, "No one is scared here," and invited the next MLA to participate in the debate. "I cannot allow you to speak whenever you desire. I will not permit it," the Speaker ruled. Eventually, agitated MLAs of the EPS-led AIADMK walked out of the House in protest over denial of permission.