DMK evicted amidst chaotic scenes

Amid chaos, DMK members were evicted from the Tamil Nadu Assembly today after they gathered in front of the Speaker, objecting to some remarks made by Leader of the House and Electricity Minister Natham R Viswanathan.

Trouble arose after Viswanathan termed the previous DMK regime a 'minority DMK government' during his reply to a special call attention motion brought forward by opposition parties on purchase of power from some private companies, allegedly at exorbitant rates.

DMK members took strong objection to it and passed some remarks on the state government, which AIADMK members objected to. Speaker P Dhanapal later expunged these remarks.

Viswanathan frequently took swipes at the previous DMK regime over various issues.

At one point even leaders of other political parties like DMDK floor leader Alagaapuram R Mohanraj and Congress leader Gopinath objected to Viswanathan's statements.Gopinath voiced his objections and said Congress would come back to power in 2016, but Viswanathan continued with his reply to the special call attention.

The Electricity Minister said purchase of power agreement from private firms was signed during the DMK regime and took a dig at DMK president M Karunanidhi for being a five time CM "without knowing what was happening in his government."

DMK members protested, sought a chance to speak and gathered in front of the Speaker when denied permission to do so. After repeated warnings, Dhanapal ordered the House marshals to evict the DMK members.

In his reply Viswanathan said while 70 per cent of the state's requirement was purchased from central and state power production units, only the balance was being filled from power purchased from private players after getting TNERC permission.

"We are purchasing power only after getting permission from Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission. So nothing is being done arbitrarily," the minister said.

He said the four companies were being paid higher rates as they use petrochemical products to generate power.

"In fact, the companies are getting only Rs 1 to Rs 2 for every unit, while the bulk of Rs 12 per unit goes to central organisations like Indian Oil Corporation and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited," he explained.

Earlier DMDK's S R Parthiban, DMK's Cumbum N Ramakrishnan, CPI(M)'s R Annadurai, CPI's V Ponnupandi, S R Vijayadharani (Congress), A Ganeshkumar (PMK) Manidhaneya Makkal Katchi's M H Jawahirullah and Puthiya Thamilagam's K Krishnasamy brought forward the special call attention motion.