Chennai: AIADMK members of the Legislative Assembly created a ruckus in the House demanding a discussion on the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy leading to the Speaker M Appavau evicting them and also suspending them for a day, which was later revoked at the behest of Chief Minister M K Stalin when came late.
Turning up in black shirts as a mark of protest and mourning, the AIADMK members boycotted the proceedings even after the Speaker allowed them to attend the House and take part in the proceedings. However, leaders of other parties including BJP’s Nainar Nagendran and PMK’s G K Mani participated in the discussion on the call attention motion on the issue.
Turmoil began in the House soon after it was convened at 10 am and the Speaker announced the start of the Question and Answer session as AIADMK members, led by the Leader of the Opposition in the House, Edappadi K Palaniswami, were on their feet demanding a discussion on the hooch tragedy.
Palaniswami, whose microphone was switched off and not given permission to speak, held aloft a placard demanding the resignation of the Chief Minister taking responsibility for the tragedy. Since the Chief Minister was not present in the House, they raised slogans asking where the Chief Minister was.
Since the Speaker tried to conduct the proceedings, the AIADMK members rushed to the well of the House with Deputy Leader of the Opposition R B Udhayakumar and Kadambur Raju sitting on the floor before the Speaker’s chair.
So, the Speaker ordered their eviction by the watch and ward staff, who bundled them all out of the hall. Udhayakumar who rushed back to the House after his eviction had to be forcibly taken away once again, which led to Palaniswami crying foul, alleging that he was being arrested by the police.
Speaking to the media outside the Assembly, Palaniswami said the dummy Chief Minister should take responsibility and quit. He called the government inefficient and demanded transparency in the treatment given to those affected by the illicit liquor. He said the hospitals did not have antidote to Methanol, which had been mixed with the arrack.
He said 50 persons had died and 96 others were in various hospitals and all of them were poor people belonging to the Scheduled Caste communities. His party members were denied justice in the Assembly as they were not allowed to speak, he said.
Inside the House, cutting across party lines, the leaders wanted stern action against those responsible for the tragedy while participating in the discussion on the call attention motion on the issue. Those who spoke were Congress leader K Selvaperunthagai, TVK leader Velmurugan, Kongunadu Desiya Makkal Katchi’s E R Easwaran, V Nagaimalli of CPM, Nainar Nagendran of BJP, Vaithilingam of the O Panneerselvam group of AIADMK, Southern Thirumalikumar (MDMK), Sinthanaiselvam (VCK), Thalli Ramachandran of CPI and Abdus Samad of IUML.
Stalin said that Palaniswami should have taken part in the discussions, too, but regretted that the main opposition party boycotted the proceedings. Giving a rundown of the events since June 19 when the tragedy started unfolding, he explained the steps taken by the government to provide treatment to those affected by the hooch. He said that the bootlegger responsible for the tragedy, Govindarajan alias Kannukutti and his associates had been arrested.
Listing out the action taken by the DMK government to curb illicit liquor trade in the State, he said in Kallakurichi alone 14,606 cases had been filed and 10,154 persons arrested and 58 of them booked under the Goondas Act.
Assuring all help to the children of those who died in the tragedy, he said that over and above the Rs 10 lakh relief they would get additional benefits like Rs 5000 every month till they attain the age of 18 for their custodians to take care of them. Another Rs 5 lakh would be released from the Chief Minister’s Fund and it would be handed over to them after they turned 18 with due interest, he said.
He requested the opposition to not seek political gain out of the tragic incident and assured the House that he would take strong action to protect the people from anti-social elements.
