Chennai: Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal today revoked his decision of barring the principal opposition DMDK from initiating debates and restored the privilege to that party.
Members of the Left parties, Congress and Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, who raised the issue in the Assembly, requested the Speaker to allow DMDK initiate debates, in accordance with Parliamentary tradition.
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa recommended that the principal Opposition be permitted to lead the debates in the House.
The Speaker had on April 9 said that DMDK would not be permitted to initiate debate on any issue till the ongoing assembly session ends as they have been "frequently disrupting" the House proceedings by raking up "frivolous" issues.
"Considering the requests made by other parties and on the opinion of the Chief Minister that the opposition should take part in the Assembly proceedings to realise their democratic responsibilities, I am announcing that members of the DMDK are given the opportunity to initiate the debates in the House from today," Dhanapal said.
He further said, "I hope DMDK members use this opportunity positively and complete their speeches on time and cooperate with me in letting other members speak."
PTI
