AIADMK members stage walkout against Speaker's "biased" verdict

Chennai, Apr 16 (UNI) The stalemate over revocation of suspension of four members of the main opposition party AIADMK for the rest of the ongoing budget session for their alleged ''unruly'' behaviour in the Tamil Nadu Assembly continued today, with the members of that party staging a walkout in protest against Speaker R Aavudaippan's ''biased'' verdict.

Raising the issue during zero hour, Deputy Leader of the Opposition O Panneerselvam said the four suspended AIADMK members -- C V Shanmugam, V P Kalairajan, R Viswanathan and V Jayaraman -- had been prevented from discharging their democratic duties for the past ten days.

Admitting that the AIADMK members became emotional in the House on April five, he said they were instigated by DMK members who criticised AIADMK founder M G Ramachandran.

Though the fault was on the part of both sides, only the AIADMK members were punished by the Speaker, he said and appealed to him to reconsider the decision and revoke the suspension.

Electricity Minister Arcot N Veerasamy said the Speaker had no other option but to initiate action against the AIADMK members as one of them showed a sandal at treasury benches. If the members concerned expressed regret for their behaviour, the Speaker could reconsider the decision, he suggested.

Congress Legislature Party leader D Sudarsanam, Mr V Sivapunniyam (CPI), Mr C Govindasamy (CPI-M) and Mr G K Mani (PMK) condemned the behaviour of AIADMK members in the House, but appealed to the Speaker to revoke the suspension if they expressed regret for the incident.

They also insisted that Mr Panneerselvam should give assurance that such ugly incidents would not recur in future.

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