AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami speaking to the media in Chennai on Monday.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday accused Assembly Speaker M. Appavu of being partial and failing to uphold the decorum and dignity of the House.
“The AIADMK has moved a resolution for his removal because the Speaker should not be partial. He should protect the freedom and dignity of the members of the House,” he said while speaking on the resolution moved by R.B. Udayakumar, deputy leader of the AIADMK in the Assembly.
Making it clear that personally he had nothing against Mr. Appavu, “a teacher, who, was friendly with everyone and expressed clearly the stand of his party in debates”, Mr Palaniswami said it was unacceptable that he was functioning like a ruling party member after becoming the Speaker of the House.
“He is not functioning in a manner that is expected of the Speaker,” he said.
Mr. Palaniswami said even though the DMK had promised to conduct the Assembly proceedings for 100 days a year, the House had proceedings for only 160 days in the last four years. “Sometimes, demands for grants for four or five departments were conducted in a single day,” he pointed out.
He said though the DMK promised live telecast of the Assembly proceedings it had not been implemented. “Though the Speaker announced the question hour was being telecast live, the speech of the Opposition members was not fully telecast. He blacked out the presence of the AIADMK members clad in black shirts,” Mr Palaniswami alleged.
When he touched upon the uproar in the Assembly on the day he claimed majority in the House [in 2017) and the attack on former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa [1989], Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan said he should confine himself to the resolution.
Recalling Mr. Appavu’s decision to walk out of the Speakers’ conference in Patna because he was not allowed to express his views, Mr. Palaniswami said the Speaker ridiculed the AIADMK when it staged a walkout to highlight people’s issues.
Published – March 17, 2025 07:06 pm IST
