TN assembly ruckus: Secretary submits report to governor

The factual report submitted to Governor Vidyasagar Rao elaborates on the incidents that unfolded on February 18.

Chennai, Feb 20: Tamil Nadu assembly secretary AMP Jamaludeen on Monday submitted a detailed report on proceedings of the assembly on Saturday as the confidence motion was underway. The factual report submitted to Governor Vidyasagar Rao elaborates on the incidents that unfolded on February 18. The governor has sought a report after the opposition as well as Panneerselvam's camp made allegations of undemocratic behaviour inside the assembly.

Letter that showed the speaker authorising specific police officers to be allowed inside the assembly in martial uniforms to evict protesting DMK MLAs from the house added to the speculation of unfair means being used to conduct floor test. The governor sought a detailed report of the entire day with specific names and actions from the Secretary to consider further course of action.

Meanwhile, DMK's M K Stalin spoke to the media condemning speaker evicting DMK MLAs en masse. "The spesker should have taken specific names of MLAs that he wanted to get evicted instead of evicting all DMK MLAs. Had there been a secret ballot, Edappadi Palanisami would not have gotten the votes," he said. He also added that he apologised to the speaker when he shows his torn shirt. Stalin denied any act of violence from his MLAs inside the assembly and claimed that they were in fact manhandled and physically thrown out of the assembly.

M K Stalin also taunted the chief minister for placing the picture of a 'convict'. "Nothing can be more shameful than the chief minister keeping a picture of a convict like Jayalalithaa on his table," he said. Stalin demanded for live telecast of assembly proceedings in the future.

He also claimed that confusions were evident over announce of Jayalalithaa's death which was unprecedented considering that was not the norm in case of M G Ramachandran's death. "AIADMK MLAs chose a new leader of legislature even before Jayalalithaa's death was officially announced. When MGR was hospitalised the then Health Minister regularly updated the people on his condition but when Jayalalithaa was hospitalised there was no regular briefing," he added.

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