Oppn charges selective blackout in Assembly live; Speaker defends move

CHENNAI: MLAs of the opposition AIADMK, sporting black shirts, walked out of the State Assembly on Tuesday in protest of Speaker M Appavu's "selective blackout" of its party MLAs in the live coverage of the House proceedings.

Raising the issue during the Zero Hour in the House, Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami said that footage of the AIADMK MLAs raising people’s issues during Question Hour and Call Attention Motions was not aired live by the Assembly Secretariat. EPS cited two instances when the speeches of C Vijayabaskar and 'Agri' Krishnamurthy on call attention motions were not aired by the Assembly secretariat.

Denying LoP's charges of bias, Speaker Appavu said that only Question Hour and statements made by the CM under rule 110 were aired live. Recalling an instance when a statement of MLA Ambedkumar was expunged at the behest of AIADMK Whip S P Velumani, Appavu said that the Chief Minister has advised training for all members to facilitate airing of all Assembly proceedings gradually live.

The Leader of the House, Duraimurugan, joined the debate and said that the Speaker's ruling was final and that not even a court could question it. The Speaker finally clarified that only those businesses on the House agenda would be aired live, and the Special Call Attention motions would not be on the agenda.

Happy you didn't sport saffron attire: CM’s jibe at AIADMK members

As the AIADMK members started exiting the House, Chief Minister MK Stalin sarcastically said, "I am happy that the AIADMK members are sporting black shirts. Thank goodness, they did not choose saffron attire."

Appavu drew curtains on the issue and added, "The LoP makes all the statements he desires in the House. He also elicits replies from the ministers. But, he still walks out and tells the media that he was prevented from speaking."