CHENNAI: Riling over the Speaker's refusal to reverse their suspension, DMK legislators continued their protest for the second consecutive day on Friday by holding a ‘mock session’ outside the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly.
It was nearly an hour-long drama with Deputy Leader of Opposition Durai Murugan donning the role of the Speaker and the DMK MLAs raised many an issue.
Some of them imitated the mannerisms of Speaker P Dhanapal who on Wednesday suspended 80 DMK legislators en masse from the House.
One of the DMK MLAs rose up and began to list certain issues in RK Nagar constituency while another shouted at him to stop. One after another spoke on issues in a humorous manner amusing the onlookers. The novel protest lasted for about 45 minutes.
Leader of Opposition and DMK treasurer MK Stalin addressed the mock session held under a tree a little far from Gate 4 leading to the Assembly and criticised the Chief Minister for not holding an all-party meeting to discuss the plight of farmers of Cauvery delta region.
Heavy police deployment was there within the premises of the Assembly and outside the main gates.
Before winding up the stir, Stalin told reporters the mock session was held to show how the House must be conducted in a smooth manner.
“We held the mock assembly only to show the outside world how an Assembly can be conducted with opportunities for all. Our intention was not to deride the legislature,” he said. The entire 'session' went on air live through a few television channels and Stalin said it would strengthen his party’s demand for live telecast of Assembly proceedings.
He said the DMK had filed a case in Madras High Court challenging the suspension of MLAs and it was expected to come up for hearing on Monday.
Asked whether his party MLAs would hold a similar mock session on Monday when the demand for grants to Home Department comes up for debate, he replied in the negative. “We have already announced a public meeting on August 22, when the demand for grants to Police (Home) Department comes up in the Assembly. We will not hold any protests other than holding the public meeting. However, the eight other MLAs will attend the proceedings,” he said.