Bedlam in TN Assembly, Speaker evicts AIADMK members

CHENNAI: Unruly scenes were witnessed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly with AIADMK and Congress MLAs coming to blows, leading to the Speaker ordering en masse eviction of the AIADMK members from the house.

AIADMK MLAs VP Kalairajan, K Pandurangan and PK Sekar Babu were seen hurling mikes at the Congress MLAs and a mike hit Congress MLA C Gnanasekaran.

Some Congress MLAs, who were shielding Gnanasekaran, also were seen hurling mikes at the AIADMK MLAs.

Some AIADMK MLAs rushed to the Congress benches and when things went out of control, Speaker R Auvudaiappan ordered their eviction.

An MLA Sekar Babu was seen moving menacingly towards Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, but he was prevented from going close to him. Health Minister KKSSR Ramachandran and DMK MLA Karuppasamy Pandiyan were seen protecting Karunanidhi from any possible attack.

After the watch and ward staff evicted the AIADMK MLAs, the Speaker said the AIADMK members had been evicted from the house for the entire session. MDMK legislature party leader M Kannappan and DPI leader Selvam requested the Speaker to reconsider his decision.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said the Speaker could pardon AIADMK members after they expressed regret for their behaviour. The Speaker said he would convene a meeting of the leaders of the legislature parties on Saturday morning to decide about the next course of action.