DMK MLAs evicted en masse from assembly over MLAs payoff issue

CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Assembly today witnessed noisy scenes leading to en masse eviction of opposition DMK members after they tried to raise the issue of alleged horse trading of AIADMK MLAs ahead of the February 18 trust vote sought by Chief Minister K Palaniswami.

Speaker P Dhanapal ruled that the issue was sub-judice and cannot be discussed and ordered the eviction of the DMK MLAs, including Leader of the Opposition M K Stalin, as they insisted on raising it.

After their eviction, Stalin and other DMK MLAs blocked roads outside the state secretariat housing the Assembly premises.

Stalin and other MLAS were detained by police.

Earlier, Dhanapal pointed out that the issue was sub- judice as DMK's petition challenging the trust vote, won by the Palaniswami Ministry, was pending in the Madras High Court.

He also referred to the DMK yesterday making an urgent mention about the sting operation by a TV channel which had aired a video footage, purportedly showing an AIADMK MLA making some claims of pay-offs to ruling party MLAs ahead of the trust vote.

However, the DMK members remained on their feet and raised slogans in support of their demand for a discussion on the issue.

The Speaker stuck to his stand that the issue cannot be raised and cited precedents from 2011 when similar matters were not allowed on the ground of sub-judice.

He also said that the MLA S S Saravanan of Madurai South and a member of the OPS camp have clarified on the matter.