An angry Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami lashed out at DMK Deputy Floor Leader Duraimurugan after a war of words broke out between the two when the latter complained that Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar was taking a lot of time in his interventions and was speaking in the Assembly as if he was speaking at a public meeting.
The face-off between the two leaders took place when DMK president M.K. Stalin brought up the issue of the Citizenship Amendment Act, blaming the AIADMK for supporting the Bill. “It is because of your support to the Bill in Parliament that the whole country is seeing protests, attacks,” Mr. Stalin said.
Mr. Udhayakumar intervened that it was the opposition that was spreading false propaganda and was creating unrest in the country. He warned that “if you want to see that sort of a bloodshed in Tamil Nadu, this government will tackle it with an iron hand”. Mr. Udhayakumar then went on a long explanation on the CAA to which Mr. Duraimurugan objected.
Mr. Duraimurugan said while the Ministers, including the Chief Minister, had the right to intervene and explain issues, Mr. Udhayakumar was consistently taking a lot of time and was speaking like at a public meeting and said the DMK would protest if the Ministers continued like this.
The Chief Minister sprung to his feet to defend the Minister. He said: “Everyone has a right to speak. You don’t have to tell him how to speak. The deputy leader of opposition cannot order that. If you think you can create trouble, we won’t allow it to happen,” Mr. Palaniswami said.
Pointing to Mr. Duraimuruagan, Mr. Palaniswami said: “You are speaking in a threatening manner. This is not done”. The House witnessed a ruckus following this with MLAs from both the sides getting on their feet and shouting at each other.
After a few minutes, the Chief Minister continued saying that Mr. Duraimurugan was a very senior member of the House and the ruling party was trying to fulfil whatever issues he brought to their notice. “I respect him. He is a senior member. He should be a guiding force for the House,” he said adding that the Revenue Minister was explaining the CAA issue in detail since it was a very important issue.
