CHENNAI: To keep the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy issue alive and pin down the DMK government, Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami and his party legislators, who were clad in black shirt, repeated their act, demanding for debate, on the consecutive fifth day in the state assembly during the question hour.
It eventually resulted in their suspension till the end of the assembly sessions that would continue till Saturday.
After coming out of the assembly, Palaniswami on Wednesday unleashed scathying attack on the ruling party that they were stifling the voice of the opposition and the Speaker, M Appavu, failed to uphold the tradition of the house and acting in “biased manner” that amounts to the “murder of democracy”
Palaniswami reiterated that the principal opposition party denied permission to flag the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy and the ruling party neither guaranteed “full freedom for thorough investigation” into the burning issue. “We have been fighting for five days to speak about the hooch tragedy. But they, somehow, wanted to impede our repeated attempts and stopped us from speaking about the Kallakurichi tragedy in the assembly,” he said.
“Though there is a provision under Rule 56 to speak about important and people related issues, the Speaker is not allowing us to speak. From the beginning of the assembly session, the AIADMK was denied the opportunity to speak about the issue. It is a pre-planned move of the ruling party,” he said
Citing rules, they were not allowed to flag the issue during question hour a couple of days ago, but Chief Minister M K Stalin spoke for 15 minutes in detail regarding the same issue during the time, he said, adding, “ Rules are same for all in the assembly. But they are following different rules for the opposition and the ruling party. In our presence, they are not speaking about the issue. After we are out (evicted) from the house, they speak about it,” he said.
As an opposition party, the AIADMK wanted to air the voice of the people. But the ruling party is throttling the opposition’s voice. “It is a massacre of democracy,” he said and quipped that the government that failed to listen to the people’s voice and concerned about their welfare had never sustained.
He also came down heavily on Speaker M Appavu and said that he failed to act in an unbiased manner. “Speaker should run the assembly and refrain from speaking politics. If he wants to speak politics, he should resign from his post and come out of the assembly to speak politics. It is anguishing to see the Speaker speaking politics and linking various issues."