The Assembly witnessed a fierce debate for more than an hour on Wednesday, in the midst of DMK MLA Senthil Balaji’s speech during the debate on the demand for grants to the Public Works Department — a portfolio held by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
Speaker P. Dhanapal expunged nearly all the comments made by all members, who spoke at multiple points during the debate.
Mr. Balaji alleged lack of progress in extension work on National Highways, State Highways and district roads during the AIADMK regime. Mr. Palaniswami intervened multiple times and offered his explanation. At one point during the debate, the Chief Minister made a remark that prompted the DMK MLAs to protest in unison, following which Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin also made certain remarks. A fierce debate ensued, with Ministers intervening and the Chief Minister himself offering explanations and making counter-remarks.
Things settled down after a prolonged series of remarks and counter-remarks from both sides, at which point Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam requested the Speaker to expunge the remarks made by everyone. The Speaker expunged the whole debate except the part where Mr. Balaji was speaking about the department’s statistics.
Even as Mr. Balaji continued to raise issues, Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar stood up, reverted to the earlier comments and read out portions of one of Mr. Balaji’s speeches from the Assembly records when he was with the AIADMK. This led to another series of interventions and counter-arguments. These too were expunged.
Again, when Mr. Balaji started speaking about an issue, the AIADMK immediately took issue with his remarks. This time, Transport Minister M.R. Vijayabhaskar made certain allegations, to which the DMK objected, arguing that such allegations can be made only with proof. Mr. Dhanapal said he had given proof in the morning, but the DMK insisted that Mr. Balaji must be given the proof to respond. As the arguments got heated up yet again, the Speaker decided to expunge the debate yet again, recording only the proof submitted to him.
