Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

Corporation Council's last meeting is no different

Staff Reporter

AIADMK members evicted after they tried to raise point of order

CHENNAI : The recurrent theme of the Chennai Corporation council meetings over the last four years was played out at the farewell meeting of the elected council on Thursday, this time against the AIADMK that holds the majority.

For the second successive meeting, the AIADMK councillors were evicted en masse when they tried to raise a point of order against the State Government's decision to conduct indirect elections to the post of Mayor. When they protested the eviction, the DMK floor leader C.V. Malayan pointed out that on several occasions during the previous regime they had been thrown out of the council hall.

Deputy Mayor R. Thiagarajan, who switched from the AIADMK to the Congress three months ago, had ordered all the evictions.

Councillors representing the different wards of the Corporation met at Ripon Buildings, the civic headquarters, amidst tight security on Thursday morning.

The stand off between the AIADMK councillors and the Deputy Mayor started right at the beginning of the meeting. The party's floor leader V. Sukumar Babu tried to raise a point of order on the decision to do away with direct elections to the post of Mayor. Mr. Thiagarajan asked the ruling party leader to raise the issue later during the zero hour and denied him the chance to make his speech. DMK councillor and Zone IX (Saidapet) chairman M. Subramaniam urged the AIADMK councillors to cooperate, as it was the final meeting of the present council. AIADMK councillors insisted that it was within their rights to raise a point of order.

The media photographers and cameramen, who are allowed to cover only the first few minutes of the meeting, were present when the arguments happened.

Mr. Malayan said the AIADMK members had no right to speak as champions for the cause of local bodies as it was their government that had curtailed powers of the local bodies. "It was your government that curtailed the financial powers of the Mayor just because M.K. Stalin was re-elected," he said.

When other AIADMK councillors joined Mr. Sukumar Babu to protest the decision, the Deputy Mayor ordered the en masse eviction of all AIADMK councillors. On their way out, the councillors raised slogans demanding direct elections to the Mayor's post.

Several AIADMK councillors later told reporters that they had prepared speeches about the achievements of the Corporation during the tenure but were denied the opportunity to present their views.

MDMK councillor P. Ambikapathy walked out of the council condemning the evictions.

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