The tiff between the ruling AIADMK and the opposition, DMK continued in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Monday. Speaking in assembly, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said that she was expecting DMK chief Karunanidhi to come to the House and she was ready to answer the questions.
She pointed out that the DMK leader was not suspended and wondered whether he has the guts to participate in the assembly deliberations.
Jayalalithaa asked why DMK chief M Karunanidhi did not come to the House. "He could have come, should have come and spoken. I was hoping that DMK MLAs would come to the House today; I came prepared to answer the possible questions," said Jayalalithaa.
80 out of 89 DMK MLAs were suspended for a week by the Tamil Nadu Speaker, P Dhanpal last Wednesday for unruly behaviour in the assembly.
She pointed out that the DMK supremo was not suspended and wondered whether he has the guts to participate in the assembly deliberations.
While DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi did not attend the assembly session on Monday, the other eight members, who had not been suspended as well as Congress MLAs staged a walkout from the House after the speaker refused to revoke their suspension.
On Thursday and Friday, DMK had staged protest outside the assembly for being denied entrance into the assembly. An FIR was also registered against Opposition Leader MK Stalin and 60 MLAs for conducting a mock assembly.
Replying to the debate on the demands for grant for police and fire and rescue services departments, Jayalalithaa posed: "Whether the DMK leader has the guts to come to the assembly and participate in the deliberations like I did when all the AIADMK members were suspended when DMK was in power."
Jayalalithaa said in 2006, when all the AIADMK members were suspended, she as Leader of Opposition, had put across the party's views during the discussions.
The DMK members did not participate in the debate as the law and order situation in the state during their rule would have been discussed and they would have anything to say, she said.
Jayalalithaa said during the DMK rule between 2006-2011, people found it difficult even to safeguard their properties as anti-social elements grabbed these by threat and other means
(With IANS inputs)