Ten-day suspension for Vijaykant

Leader of Opposition and DMDK leader Vijaykant paid the price for leading the ruckus in Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday, as he was slapped a 10-day suspension from the House with effect from Thursday.

However, other DMDK legislators, who joined the actor-turned-politician in the showdown with the treasury benches were let off. As the present session of the Assembly is scheduled to end on Saturday, the suspension will be carried over to the ensuing budget session, said Assembly Speaker D Jayakumar.

State Finance minister and leader of the House O Pannerselvam had moved a motion in the Assembly on Thursday, seeking Vijaykant’s suspension. The motion was based on recommendations made by the House Privileges Committee, whose report on Wednesday’s incident was tabled in the House on Thursday.

Vijayakant would not be entitled to salary and other emoluments as an MLA during the suspension period, Jayakumar said. In addition, he can not claim protocol precedence as ‘Opposition Leader’ during the period.

“Breach of privilege action charges against other DMDK members were dropped. They were warned not to behave in a manner that lowered the decorum and dignity of the Assembly in future,” Jayakumar added.

In retaliation, opposition parties including the DMDK, CPI and CPM staged a walkout from the Assembly, declining to participate in a discussion on the Privileges Committee’s report.

 “Once the report is tabled, it becomes the property of the House and so it must be discussed, but they steamrolled the whole thing and passed the motion (suspending Vijayakant). Also, action was taken only against one party, the DMDK, for Wednesday’s incidents when ruling party members were also involved. This is not fair and so we walked out,” said DMDK leader Panruti S Ramachandran.  

“When all the DMDK members were evicted from the House on Wednesday for the incidents, why suspend Vijayakant which looks vindictive,” charged the CPM leader A Soundararajan.