CHENNAI: After being evicted from the state assembly along with party legislators for creating a ruckus over the Kallakurichi hooch tragedy earlier on Friday, Leader of Opposition (LoP) Edappadi K Palaniswami said that it was an 'injustice' to not be allowed to flag the incident in the House. Moments after the question hour began, black shirt-clad AIADMK MLAs led by the LoP carrying placards had stormed the well of the House and engaged in sloganeering in connection with the Kallakurichi incident, even after continued appeals by the Speaker.
Palaniswami said, "It is an injustice to deny opportunities to the principal opposition party for voicing out on people’s issues and tragic incidents that affect the marginalised sections of the society."
“It is the duty of the Leader of Opposition and legislators of the opposition parties to highlight these issues and draw the attention of the government. Hence, we repeatedly asked for permission to speak about the government's failure and inadequate treatment for the victims,” he added.
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The AIADMK leader quoted news reports to state that at least 49 persons have died after drinking 'paper arrack' mixed with methanol on Wednesday while 96 are presently under treatment in JIPMER, Puducherry, government hospitals in Villupuram, Kallakurichi, and Salem. "We also learnt that 14 of the victims in JIPMER are in critical condition and that the victims under treatment in Salem have lost vision. The incident has sent shockwaves across the state. We wanted to speak about this and sought the Speaker’s permission but were denied permission," Palaniswami said.
The party's general secretary further said that if they were not allowed to speak about this incident in the House, there was no meaning in being elected by the people for the assembly.
House Speaker M Appavu later allowed the opposition MLAs to return and participate in today's proceedings, following an appeal from Chief Minister MK Stalin who said he believed that the principal opposition party should register its views in the House.