TN Assembly session begins with tribute to 41 victims of Karur stampede

The Tamil Nadu Assembly session commenced on Tuesday with the House passing a resolution to condole the tragic death of 41 persons during a stampede in Karur on September 27.

Immediately after the House met, Speaker M Appavu read out a resolution and conveyed the heartfelt condolences and sympathies to the bereaved families whose kin died during the stampede at a meeting of Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam addressed by its founder actor-politician Vijay.

He said Chief Minister M K Stalin directed the officials and medical professionals to provide good treatment to the injured and also rushed to the hospital and consoled the affected families.

The Chief Minister announced solatium to the families of the victims and also the injured, Appavu said and urged the members to observe two minutes' silence as a mark of respect to the departed souls.

Following this, the DMK, AIADMK, BJP, Congress, the VCK and other members stood up to pay their respects.

The House made obituary references to former Governor of Nagaland L Ganesan, former Chief Minister of Kerala V S Achuthanandan, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, veteran CPI leader Sudhakar Reddy, and Tamil Nadu IAS official Beela Venkatesan.

The Speaker made obituary references to the passing away of former legislators S Puratchimani, S Gunasekaran, V C Govinda Samy, O S Amarnath, A Arivalagan, Durai Anbarasan, M A Khaleelur Rahman, R Chinnasamy, and T K Amul Kandasamy.

Thereafter, the House adopted resolutions mourning the loss of lives in the stampede and also the demise of the leaders.

Following this, the House was adjourned for the day. The brief session will conclude on October 17.

Earlier, PMK members: Venkateswaran, Sivakumar, and Sadasivam, who are supporters of Anbumani Ramadoss, staged an agitation demanding the removal of G K Mani, as PMK floor leader. They urged the Speaker to replace Mani with Venkateswaran and also appoint Sivakumar as the party's whip in the Assembly.

Mani has been backing senior Ramadoss in the power struggle between the father and son over party leadership since December last year.