M Duraimurugan urges speaker P Dhanapal to allow his party members to complete their speech before Ministers were permitted to intervene

Chennai, August 19: Annoyed over frequent interventions by Ministers during the speeches of his party members in the Assembly, DMK Deputy Floor Leader M. Duraimurugan on Tuesday urged Speaker P. Dhanapal to allow his party members to complete their speech before Ministers were permitted to intervene. He said if this was not adhered to, then there wouldn’t be a healthy discussion in the House, reports thehindu.com.

The issue arose when several Ministers intervened during the speech of DMK legislator T.M. Anbarasan (Alandur) as they tried to respond to the charges levelled by the latter. Objecting to this, Mr. Duraimurugan said, “I know a Minister can intervene anytime they want. But, intervening after every word our MLA uttered is not good. It would not lead to a healthy discussion.”

He added, “We completely accept your explanation. But, please give us the chance to complete our sentence and time to speak,” he insisted. When Labour Minister Nilofer Kafeel retorted that the DMK MLA had to be intervened as he was giving wrong information to the House, the DMK members rose to their feet and opposed.

Electricity Minister P. Thangamani, Industries Minister M.C. Sampath, Textiles Minister O.S. Manian, Labour Minister Kafeel, Information Technology Minister M. Manikandan, Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani and Fisheries Minister D. Jayakumar intervened during the speech of Mr. Anbarasan.

However, Speaker P. Dhanapal maintained that the Ministers could intervene anytime they want and give explanations or clarifications.

Special call attention

Meanwhile, Congress Legislative Party leader K.R. Ramasamy raised the issue of the recent train heist and wanted to take the issue as a special call attention motion. But the Chair denied permission.