Chennai: Opposition DMK MLAs were evicted en masse from the Tamil Nadu Assembly following a fiery exchange of words with the Treasury benches and the MLAs staging a dharna before the Speaker's chair.
The issue of provocation came from Housing Minister R Vaithilingam, who made some remarks over DMK's participation in the Congress-led UPA Cabinet which prompted angry reaction from the opposition MLAs who demanded that Speaker P Dhanapal expunge those remarks.
With the Speaker refusing to do so, DMK's Legislature Party Leader MK Stalin warned him that if their demand was not met, the MLAs will be forced to stage a dharna.
Soon DMK members Thangam Thennarasu, N Ramakrishnan, J Anbazhagan and R Sakkarapani moved towards the Speaker's chair where they sat down before him and started raising slogans.
Dhanapal subsequently ordered their eviction.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, February 05, 2013, 15:29