AIADMK members evicted from House; Congress, PMK, BJP stage walk out

AIADMK members evicted from Assembly for protesting Governor's speech, followed by Congress, BJP, and PMK walkouts.

Members of the principal opposition, AIADMK, led by its Edappadi K. Palaniswami were evicted from the Assembly on Monday, after they held placards and shouted slogans when Governor R.N. Ravi attempted to speak from the podium.

Earlier, the AIADMK members arrived at the Assembly wearing badges that read ‘Yaar Antha Sir?’ (Who is that Sir? - a reference to allegations that the accused in the recent Anna University sexual assault case had spoken over phone to an unnamed man, who he called ‘sir’). Inside the Assembly hall, when the Governor was at the podium, the AIADMK took out placards and raised slogans. Soon, they sat on the floor around the podium and raised slogans. Eventually, they were forcibly removed from the House.

Later in the day, when the media asked about the incident, Assembly Speaker M. Appavu said he inferred the slogans could have been against the Governor, since he was the chancellor of Anna University, where the sexual assault against a woman student was reported. The AIADMK members did not object when the Speaker spoke but only when the Governor was at the podium, he pointed out.

Congress members, led by its floor leader K. Selvaperunthagai, also came close to the podium and raised slogans when the Governor was there. Soon after the Governor left the hall, the Congress members, who were wearing black badges, staged a walkout.

A few minutes after the Speaker commenced reading out the Tamil version of the Governor’s address to the House, BJP leader Nainar Nagenthran rose and made some comments and led his party members in staging a walk out. In another few minutes, PMK members led by its floor leader G.K. Mani too rose and were seen objecting to something. Later, he led his party members to stage a walk out.