Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Assembly Tuesday revoked suspension of nine AIADMK MLAs, following a plea from
Chief Minister M Karunanidhi "to let bygones be bygones".
They had been suspended from the House yesterday till the
end of the session on January 13 for disrupting the address of
the Governor on Friday.
Replying to Nanmaran (CPI-M) and CPI floor leader V
Sivapunniyam, who pleaded for the suspension to be revoked,
Karunanidhi said these parties did not plead for 10 DMK MLAs,
including general secretary K Anbazhagan, who were
disqualified from Assembly membership in 1986 by then Speaker
PH Pandiyan.
"We did not make a big fuss then like the opposition
MLAs did yesterday. We were calm," Karunanidhi said.
DMK MLAs were disqualified for participating in an
agitation by the party, burning handwritten copies of a
constitutional article, making Hindi official language of
the country.
"The Communists` argument that the suspended MLAs should
be allowed to perform their democratic rights applied to us
(then). When our MLAs were disqualified, the same parties did
not plead our case, probably because they had the faith that
we can face any challenges," he said.
Quoting Pandiyan`s ruling then, Karunanidhi said "the
Speaker has got ample powers. Legislature is a democratic
institution and supreme".
Karunanidhi said the AIADMK MLAs action was not only
against the Governor`s address but also against the Governor.
Even as the Chief Minister was speaking, AIADMK and CPI-M
MLAs, who staged a walkout earlier demanding revocation of
suspension, entered the House.
Sivapunniyam made one more appeal at this juncture and
Karunanidhi said the CPI leader had been arguing that practice
of the House was to revoke the suspension.
"The argument is not correct and a Himalayan mistake. The
membership of our disqualified MLAs were not restored then,"
he said but in the present case the suspension could be
revoked.
"Let bygones be bygones and let the future be good. If the
MLAs are prepared to attend the House, we are prepared to
forget and forgive," Karunanidhi said.
After the Chief Minister`s remarks, Deputy Chief Minister MK Stalin moved a resolution revoking the suspension which was
passed by the House. The MLAs can now attend the session
tomorrow and the day after when it concludes.
Slogan shouting AIADMK-led opposition members were evicted
from the House en masse on Friday when they tried to disrupt
the Governor`s address by raising corruption issues, including
2G spectrum scam.
PTI
