DMDK MLAs in the State Assembly came to fisticuffs with one of their estranged colleagues during question hour on Friday. House Marshals averted further escalation of violence and acted to evict the DMDK members en masse.
Condemning the incident as barbaric, Speaker P Dhanapal referred privilege issues against DMDK Whip V C Chandhirakumar, his colleagues L Venkatesan (Tirukoilur), S R Parthiban (Mettur), B Parthasarathy (Virukampakkam), V Muthukumar (Vriddhachalam) and C H Sekar (Gummidipoondi), who were involved in the incident, to the Privileges Committee of the House.
The Speaker added, after viewing footage of the House proceedings, he would refer the names of other DMDK members who were involved in the incident, to the Privileges Committee.
Deputy Leader of Opposition S Ramachandran, who witnessed the furore with a sense of shock, distanced himself from the incident. Ramachandran remained in the House even after his colleagues were evicted. After submitting the reports of the Public Accounts Committee, which he heads, he said, “I was here only to discharge my duty. I could not see what had happened from my seat. As a member of my party, now I stage a walk-out.”
It all began when one of the four disgruntled DMDK MLAs, V Tamil Ahzagan (Tittakkudi), praised Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa who had fulfilled the demands of the people of his constituency. “Those who would like to serve the people better, please follow my path,” he said inviting sharp reactions from his erstwhile DMDK colleagues.
Chandhirakumar and a couple of others rushed towards Tamil Azhagan, while other DMDK MLAs criticised him for his ‘suggestion’.
Tamil Azhagan was seated with the three other disgruntled DMDK MLAs in the fifth row, while Michael Rayappan (Radhapuram), another rebel MDMK MLA was in the first seat.
Rayappan tried to parry Chandhirakumar and others and he was assaulted even as AIADMK members started coming to the rescue of the four rebel DMDK MLAs. After a few moments, Rayappan too returned a couple of blows. The marshals had a tough time evicting the few DMDK members in the House, and in the lobby too they raised slogans.
Leader of the House O Panneerselvam said Tamil Azhagan had spoken in a gentle manner without hurting anyone. He urged the Speaker to award severe punishment to the DMDK MLAs who had attacked Rayappan.
Rayappan, Tamil Azhagan, Arun Pandiyan and R Sunderrajan have supported the ruling party since last year.
