Congress Legislature Party leader K.R. Ramasamy on Tuesday threatened to resign after Speaker P. Dhanapal asked him to wind up his speech quickly, even before he had begun to speak. Mr. Ramasamy was scheduled to speak before Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin during the debate on the demand for grants for the Home Department.
Mr. Ramasamy’s turn came after an AIADMK MLA finished speaking around 2.20 p.m. But Mr. Dhanapal asked him to wind up his speech quickly. “Please finish [your speech] quickly today, as there is no time. The Opposition leader also has to speak. I will give you a chance to speak again on another day,” Mr. Dhanapal said.
Mr. Ramasamy protested against the Speaker’s directive, saying he was the only one to speak on behalf of his party and it was not fair to ask him to finish his speech quickly. Mr. Dhanapal then asked him to speak, but again told him to wind up quickly, citing paucity of time. At this point, the Congress leader got angry and said he will resign from the Assembly if it suited the Speaker.
Following this, even the ruling party members exhorted him to start speaking and not waste the time allocated to him. Mr. Ramasamy then spoke on a number of issues concerning the Police Department.