Kallakurichi hooch tragedy: AIADMK members evicted from T.N. Assembly

AIADMK legislators were evicted from the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, on Friday, June 21, 2024, after they staged a sit-in protest over the hooch tragedy in Kallakurichi which has so far claimed 48 lives.

Speaker M. Appavu ruled that the AIADMK MLAs could not attend the House for the rest of the day. Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was not present in the House at this time. Subsequently, when Mr Stalin arrived, he requested the Speaker to allow the members to raise the issue after the Question Hour.

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Clad in black shirts and holding placards demanding the resignation of Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, the AIADMK members led by former Chief Minister Edappai K. Palaniswami, raised slogans immediately after the House session met. Though the Speaker said the issue could be raised after the question hour, the MLAs continued to raise slogans and at one point, rushed to the Speaker’s chair and launched a sit-in protest.

Leader of the House, Minister Duraimurugan said Mr Palaniswami could state what he wanted to convey. However, the AIADMK members remained unmoved. The Speaker then directed the watch and ward staff of the Assembly to evict the AIADMK members. Some of the members including MLA R.B. Udayakumar, the deputy leader of the AIADMK, were bundled out of the House.

We are not against raising of the issue: Duraimurugan

After the eviction, Mr Duraimurugan said the AIADMK MLAs could have raised this issue after the Question Hour. “We are not against them raising the issue. They have the right to raise it. I even said they could convey their message though it is against the rule of the House to do so before the Question Hour,” he pointed out. 

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Mr. Appavu said many members had given notice to raise the issue and he had allowed them to raise it under Rule 55 of the Assembly Rules. “But they came to the House with the motive of causing a disturbance,” he said.

PMK MLAs also came to the Assembly clad in black shirts.

Call attention notice in 2023 not accepted: Edappadi

Speaking to journalists outside the the House, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami claimed that his party, even in March 2023, had submitted a call attention notice to the Assembly Speaker to discuss the issue of the prevalence of ganja and illicit liquor in areas including Kallakurichi, but this was not accepted. 

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Contending that the sale of illicit liquor was being carried out over the past three years in the heart of Kallakurichi town, Mr Palaniswami demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the matter.