DMK members evicted en masse from TN assembly

Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam members were on Monday evicted en masse from Tamil Nadu Assembly with a couple of them being handed a two-day suspension for disrupting the proceedings.

Trouble arose when Transport Minister Senthil Balaji was replying to a special call attention moved by the DMK and Left parties on alleged irregularities in procurement of hand-held ticket vending machines for the state transport corporations.

Balaji made some remarks about DMK member M K Stalin which infuriated his party colleagues who strongly protested and remained on their feet.

Speaker P Dhanapal's repeated pleas for decorum failed to evoke any response from the vociferous DMK members with some of them even trooping to near the Chair. With his pleas going unheeded, Dhanapal summoned the marshals to evict the DMK members.

Soon, TN Finance Minister O Panneerselvam, also Leader of the House, moved a resolution seeking suspension of DMK MLAs Sivasankaran and J Anbazhagan, saying their conduct was not keeping to the ethos of the House and that they be suspended for two days from Monday. Amid objections from principal opposition Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, the House passed the resolution by a voice vote.

This is the second time that the DMK members have been evicted enmasse in the current budget session, after they were sent out on March 27 when they vociferously protested critical remarks made by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa against their leader M Karunanidhi over Sri Lankan Tamils issue.