CHENNAI: The Assembly witnessed nearly two hours of chaos during the discussions on the demand for grants for the police and fire and rescue services departments on Thursday, as the opposition DMK and the ruling TVK engaged in a heated argument over the law and order situation in the state.
Leader of Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin said that more than 550 grave crimes, including 10 cases of honour killings, eight custodial deaths, 200 murders and 300 sexual offences against women and children, were reported in the 116-day-rule of the TVK government.
Citing the incident in Thoothukudi where a woman was sexually assaulted by two persons, including a TVK functionary, and an MLA of the party allegedly trying to broker a deal between the survivor and the perpetrator, Udhayanidhi pointed out no action has been taken against the MLA so far.
To this, Minister for Rural Development and Water Resources N Anand shot back saying, as soon as the complaint was lodged, a case was registered and the two perpetrators were arrested.
The TVK functionary was removed from the party immediately, and a probe revealed that the MLA was not involved in the case, he said, adding that TVK is not like DMK “that takes more than 10 days to register a case if a lower-tier partyman is involved in a case”. This led to an uproar from the DMK side, with TVK MLAs rising in support of Anand.
Targeting Vijay, Udhayanidhi said the CM has three days to reply and that he could prepare well. This led to a furore as TVK MLAs stood up condemning Udhayanidhi’s statement.
The CM responded saying that he would give his reply to all the questions raised by the opposition on Monday, but needs a promise from them that they would not run away when he starts speaking. Immediately after saying this, the CM left the House, prompting a retort from Udhayanidhi, “Now, who has ran away from the House?”
The LoP also brought up the subject of Muslim prisoners in the state not being given bail and parole, to which, PWD Minister Aadhav Arjuna said it was the DMK that had filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying that release of Muslim prisoners will create law and order issues.
The minister also accused the earlier governments of hiding the incidents of murder by mentioning the same number (1,597) in 2020 (AIADMK tenure), 2021 and 2022 (DMK tenure). The statement triggered a heated exchange, with the DMK asking the treasury bench to stop blaming the opposition.
Former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami termed over 1,000 people falling prey to the online investment fraud, FQL, as an intelligence failure.
Sexual violence, not rape, clarifies CPM MLA
Objecting to the use of the word “karpazhippu” (antiquated term for rape) by AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami, CPM MLA T Latha said such terminology has become outdated. She pointed out that Aadhav Arjuna had also used the word two weeks ago. Latha said the term “paaliyal vanmurai” (sexual violence) could be used instead. In his response, EPS requested the deputy speaker to expunge that word. Aadhav Arjuna apologised for using the term