DMK, Congress walk out of Tamil Nadu assembly

Chennai: Tamil Nadu`s main opposition DMK and allies Congress and IUML on Wednesday walked out of the state assembly to protest Speaker P. Dhanapal`s decision not to read out the Governor`s letter on a DMK representation over a media sting.

In the media sting, an AIADMK legislator allegedly said that lawmakers were offered gold and huge sums of money to vote in favour of Chief Minister K. Palaniswami during the confidence vote on February 18.

In response to DMK Working President M.K. Stalin`s representation, Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao had sent the letter, along with representation and a compact disc, to Speaker P. Dhanapal and Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan for appropriate action.

When Stalin urged the Speaker to read out the Governor`s letter, Dhanapal said he would go through the communique and reply and that there was no need for him to give an explanation in the house.

Following this, the legislators of the DMK, Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) walked out of the assembly.

Stalin later told the media that the Governor`s letter is in response to the DMK`s representation and as per the assembly rules the communication from the Governor to the assembly has to be read out to members.