Two Tami Nadu MLAs brought much embarrassment to the AIADMK faction led by Edapaddi Palanisamy on Saturday by fighting on the dais in open view of the hundreds who had gathered at an event in Tirupur. Housing and Urban Development Minister Udumalai Radhakrishnan and Assembly’s deputy speaker Pollachi Jayaraman had a ‘chair fight’ on the stage during the event.

The event was organised in Tirupur to celebrate the centenary birth celebrations of former Chief Minister and founder of AIADMK, MG Ramachandran. The cabinet ministers, as well as opposition DMK and the faction led by O Panneerselvam were invited for the event.

In an ugly spat, both the MLAs, Udumalai Radhakrishnan and Pollachi Jayaraman started fighting for a chair on the stage next to the Chief Minister Edapaddi Palanisamy. First, the Chief Minister separated them and Jayaraman was asked to go sit on another chair, but both the ministers could be seen screaming at each other. Later, groups supporting Jayaraman and Radhakrishnan began yelling from the crowd, assembly speaker Dhanapal had to intervene to sort the matter.

Moreover, the flags used at the event bore the ‘two leaves’ symbol, which was prohibited by the Election Commission in March. At various places in the event, AIADMK flags could be seen with the ‘two leaves’ symbol. 

The Commission had stated that neither of the two groups will be permitted to use the symbol ‘Two leaves’ symbol.

Both the factions led by Edapaddi Palanisamy and O Panneerselvam have been battling for the symbol, and in June, Deepa Jayakumar had also met the Election Commission claiming that she should be given the ‘two-leaves’ symbol as she had the support of AIADMK cadres.