DMK working President MK Stalin and 20 other MLAs from the opposition party have been issued notices by the privileges committee of the Tamil Nadu assembly. This was after they carried gutka, a banned substance, into the state assembly on July 19.
According to ToI, Stalin held up packets of gutka in the assembly and accused the government of not taking any steps to prevent its sale in the state. He alleged that the banned substance was easily available despite the government claiming that it had initiated a crackdown on its sale.
Speaker P Dhanapal reportedly called bringing the banned substance into assembly a breach of privilege and referred it to the privileges committee.
Following this, notices were issued to 21 MLAs and they have been asked to reply in a week as to why they bought the banned substance to the assembly.
DMK MLAs are now arguing that the packets were brought to prove a point about the availability of the substance. “After the gutka packets were shown inside the assembly, action has been taken against several traders and the banned substance has been seized. Thus, it is only after our Thalapathi raised the issue that the government has taken action," said Regupathi, a DMK leader to ToI.
"Moreover, the speaker only asked us to sit down and did not mention any action against us but changed his mind after chief minister K Palanisami spoke on the issue. We have not violated any assembly rules," he added.
DMK leaders further alleged that this was an effort by the government to threaten them, as they were losing support due to internal politics.