DMK chief MK Stalin has alleged that he was roughed up on orders of ruling AIADMK.
Highlights
- MK Stalin has alleged that he was roughed up on orders of ruling AIADMK
- Palaniswami won trust vote with 122 votes, only 11 votes cast from rebels
- Speaker rejected demand for secret voting by Panneerselvam, DMK
A case has been registered against MK Stalin, the chief of Tamil Nadu's main opposition party, the DMK, for a protest at Chennai's iconic Marina Beach yesterday.
Mr Stalin, 63, took centre-stage in violent protests in the assembly yesterday against a trust vote that
Chief Minister E Palaniswami eventually won.
Before the vote, Mr Stalin was led out of the assembly, his shirt unbuttoned and pocket torn, along with other DMK lawmakers who were evicted after they
pushed Speaker P Dhanapal, broke chairs and stood on tables. In the evening, he was detained by policemen as he sat on a hunger strike at Chennai's Marina Beach.
"We were manhandled on the orders of the ruling party. I was dragged out of the assembly," Mr Stalin said, displaying his torn shirt to the cameras at the assembly.
He later led a DMK delegation to meet Governor C Vidyasagar Rao to complain against the Speaker.
"If anything wrong happened, we regret it but we had to protest as the Speaker did not accept our demand for secret voting," Mr Stalin said.
In the absence of the opposition, including 88 DMK lawmakers, Mr Palaniswami won 122 votes. Only 11 votes were cast against him by rebels of the ruling AIADMK, led by former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.
Unspeakable chaos broke out in the assembly as the Speaker rejected the demand for secret voting by the Panneerselvam faction, the DMK and the Congress.
In edited visuals aired on local channels, DMK lawmakers were seen around the speaker's chair, yanking mics, picking up chairs and ripping up papers. They were seen pushing the Speaker, who was escorted out by marshals. After he left, a legislator was seen sitting in his chair and others stood on tables, depicting a complete breakdown of order in the house.
Alleging "torture", the Speaker evicted the DMK lawmakers, but they refused to leave, sitting down on the floor of the house.
Mr Panneerselvam, whose stunning rebellion seeded the crisis in the ruling party, emerged after the trust vote and long after the assembly violence. In his first comments, he backed the DMK.
"There is still time for justice. They forcibly evicted the DMK MLAs from the house and started voting...the eviction was against democratic principles," Mr Panneerselvam said.
"People will decide whether this is valid or not. Only when we meet the people, we will be able to understand their feelings," he added.