DMK MLAs walk out, protesting Karunanidhi arrest

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, AUG. 18. Expectedly, the budget presentation in the Assembly began on a loud note with members of the DMK and allied parties staging a walk-out protesting the arrest of the DMK president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, and the subsequent incidents of violence and attacks on the freedom of the press in the State.

Immediately after the Speaker, Mr. K. Kalimuthu, called the Finance Minister, Mr. C. Ponnaiyan, to present the budget, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. K. Anbazhagan, started reading out a prepared statement explaining the reasons for the DMK's proposed walk-out.

The Speaker, however, stopped him short saying that no debate could be allowed on the day of presentation of the budget.

But, the DMK leader was free to voice his condemnation and walk out, he added.

Mr. Anbazhagan thereafter walked out, but the other DMK members remained in the House and raised slogans against the Government.

They continued their protest despite Mr. Anbazhagan singalling to them to follow him. This prompted the Speaker to remark whether the DMK members did not have any respect for their leader (Mr. Anbazhagan) or their party.

``Do you have any differences with what he just stated?'' the Speaker taunted the DMK members.

After some minutes of slogan-shouting, the DMK members as also the MLAs of the BJP, the MGR-ADMK and the DPI walked out.

The Speaker then ruled that the statement made by Mr. Anbazhagan and the slogans raised by the DMK members stood expunged and that these would not form part of the proceedings.

And, when the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, made a communication through an Assembly secretariat official, the Speaker declared that: ``I order that these remarks should not be reported by the press.''

After leaving the House, Mr. Anbazhagan released his statement explaining the reasons for the walk-out.

The AIADMK Government, instead of continuing the welfare measures initiated by the DMK Government, was only keen on suppressing the Opposition, he said.

In this context, he referred to the arrest of Mr. Karunanidhi, the loss of six lives in police action during the DMK rally, and the assault on journalists.

During the DMK rally on August 12, the police, along with goondas, had attacked DMK men. Six party cadres were killed and over 200 injured in the violence.

The assault on journalists was an attack on the freedom of the press which was one of the pillars of democracy, he said.

The DMK members continued with their slogans outside the House. They condemned the ``police atrocities'' in the State.

They warned the Government against instigating violence and expressed their support for the freedom of the press.

Reacting to the walk-out by the DMK, the Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalithaa, said it reflected the DMK's ``concern for democracy.''

The DMK president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, and his party MLAs, who were elected by the people were not discharging their democratic duties, she added.

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Section  : Southern States
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