The Chairman of the Committee of Privileges of Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday recommended issue of show-cause notices to 21 DMK MLAs, including Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin, for displaying sachets of banned gutkha in the House last month. The DMK legislators had then said that their attempt was to expose the illegal sale of tobacco products in the State.
The notices from Deputy Speaker Pollachi V. Jayaraman, the Chairman of the Committee, were issued after 13 members of the Committee met in the Secretariat to discuss the issue. Besides Mr. Stalin, to whom the notice about the meeting was not sent under Rule 228 of the Tamil Nadu Assembly Rules, three AIADMK MLAs owing allegiance to sidelined leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran, did not turn up for the meeting.
Besides Mr. Stalin, the notices – seeking an explanation why action should not be taken – would be sent to A.R.R. Seenivasan (Virudhunagar), B. Ranganathan (Villivakkam), Govi. Chezhian (Tiruvidaimarudhur), J. Anbazhagan (Chepauk-Triplicane), K.P.P. Samy (Tiruvottiyur), K.S. Ravichandran (Egmore), Ku. Ka. Selvam (Thousand Lights), M.P. Giri (Chengam) and N. Karthik (Singanallur).
The other MLAs are P. Karthikeyan (Vellore), P.K. Sekar Babu (Harbour), P.N.P. Inbasekaran (Pennagaram), P. Sivakumar alias Thayagam Kavi (Thiru.Vi.Ka. Nagar), R.T. Arasu (Cheyyur), Saba. Rajendran (Neyveli), S. Ambeth Kumar (Vandavasi), S. Pugazhenthi (Madurantakam), S. Thangapandian (Rajapalayam) and S. Sudharsanam (Madavaram).
Addressing reporters after the meeting, S. Regupathy, DMK MLA and member of the Committee of Privileges, said the AIADMK government has “lost majority and has become minority” and the action of issuing notices was only aimed at reducing the numbers against them in the House.
‘Bad precedent’
He said that the DMK legislators led by Mr. Stalin did raise the issue of sale of banned gutkha in the State multiple times in the House and had staged several walkouts too over the issue.
The Tirumayam MLA also claimed that any action against the MLAs would become a “bad precedent” and they would also move the court. Besides Mr. Jayaraman and Leader of the House K.A. Sengottaiyan, the AIADMK MLAs who took part in the meeting were M. Geetha, S.S. Saravanan, M. Parameswari, A. Maruthamuthu and J.K.N. Ramajeyalingam. Three AIADMK MLAs – T.A. Elumalai, R. Thangadurai and S.T.K. Jakkaiyan – didn’t attend the meeting. DMK MLAs K.S. Ravichandran (Egmore), K. Sundar (Uthiramerur), K.R. Periakaruppan (Sivaganga), U. Mathivanan (Kilvelur) and S. Regupathy (Tirumayam) and Congress whip S. Vijayadharani (Vilavancode) attended the meeting.
A senior official explained that Mr. Stalin was not issued notice about the meeting despite being the panel’s ex-officio member under Rule 228 of the Tamil Nadu Assembly Rules. “The Speaker mentioned the Leader of the Opposition when he referred the matter to the Privileges Committee, and hence, he was not informed about the meeting,” the official said.
When asked how Mr. Ravichandran was called for the meeting, the official said he was informed because the Committee was yet to decide on the MLAs involved in the incident before the meeting.
Meanwhile, Mr. Stalin has also alleged that there was a plan to reduce the strength of DMK MLAs in the Assembly to ensure that the government stayed in power.
On the show cause notices issued to DMK MLAs, he said his party would face it legally.
“Even today gutkha products worth ₹10 lakh have been seized in Ponneri. The government should take responsibility and quit,” he said.