Tamil Nadu Assembly spares seven DMK MLAs of action as speaker intervenes

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Friday spared seven DMK MLAs of action, including a six month suspension, for their alleged unruly behaviour during the Palaniswami government's trust vote on February 18, following an intervention from Speaker P Dhanapal.

The report by the Committee of Privileges, headed by Deputy Speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman, had suggested six month suspension for the seven DMK members, namely S Ambeth Kumar, K S Masthan, K S Ravichandran, N Suresh Rajan, K Karthikeiyan, P Murugan and Ku Ka Selvam.

The government, represented by Leader of the House K A Sengottaiyan, moved a motion that the Assembly accepted the recommendations, which also included freezing of the legislators' salary and other perks during the six month suspension period.

However, the speaker, who said he was the one "affected" during the ruckus, requested that the recommendations may not be accepted since six of the seven, excluding Suresh Rajan, were first-time legislators.

"Further, all of them have given apology letter and expressed regret for their action, assuring they will not repeat them," Dhanapal said.

He then requested the treasury benches not to press on the motion and suggested that it may be withdrawn.

Responding to the speaker's plea, Sengottaiyan, the School Education Minister, said the government would treat the former's request as his "order".

He said the ruling benches accepted the speaker's "culture, humanitarian aspect and mercy", promptly moving another resolution to withdraw the original one.

The second resolution was adopted by a voice vote.

Responding to the issue, Opposition Leader M K Stalin thanked and praised the speaker for his "generosity", and recalled that he had regretted the DMK members' unruly action, if any, during the trust vote.

DMK's allies, Congress and Indian Union Muslim League, also praised the speaker.

Later, Dhanapal said he had made an effort for a healthy debate of opinions and suggested that with such an orderly style, the Tamil Nadu Assembly could set an example on conducting smooth proceedings.