DMDK MLAs in privilege row

Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal on Wednesday referred two privilege issues against seven of the DMDK MLAs with regard to two incidents, to the Privileges Committee of the House for inquiry.

The Speaker said five DMDK MLAs, S Senthil Kumar, T Murugesan, R Arulselvan and Shanti Rajamanickam, along with DMDK Whip V C Chandrakumar, had on October 29 met him at his chamber and submitted a petition seeking an appointment with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to discuss the issues relating to their constituencies.

The Speaker said though he had told the MLAs that such petitions should be given to the Chief Minister’s office only, they insisted and handed over the petitions to him. However, they later gave an interview to the mediapersons aimed at gaining cheap publicity with political motives.

Stating that there was prima facie breach of privilege of the House in the act of the DMDK MLAs, the Speaker said he was referring to them to the Privileges Committee.

The Speaker said R Sundarrajan, MLA, had lodged a complaint against three DMDK MLAs­— P Parthasarathy and K Thinakaran, who had on October 29, attempted to assault him in the lobby of the House. They also abused and held him by his collar, he said and sought protection.

Sundarrajan had also urged him (the Speaker) to take action against the three.