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‘DMK was behind assembly fracas’

Senior AIADMK leader and Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha, Munisamy Thambi Durai, has squarely blamed the DMK for the…

‘DMK was behind assembly fracas’

PHOTO: Facebook

Senior AIADMK leader and Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha, Munisamy Thambi Durai, has squarely blamed the DMK for the chaos in the Tamil Nadu Assembly during the recent confidence vote for newly sworn-in state chief minister Eddapaddi Palaniswamy.

Seventy-year-old Thambi Durai, a fifth-term member of the Lok Sabha representing Karur, was Deputy Speaker for the first time in 1984 when the late Rajiv Gandhi was Prime Minister. He was Union Minister for Law, Justice and Company Affairs and Minister of State of Surface Transport from March 1998 to April 1999.

Thambi Durai began his political career at 18 as a youth activist of the erstwhile united DMK in 1965, during his first year as a student of Madras Christian College. He participated in the anti-Hindi agitation of 1965 and courted arrest. He worked his way up in the party starting as a worker at the booth level for municipal and legislative assembly polls in 1967 and 1971 for the DMK, and also as an agitprop coordinator in universities and colleges. He was among the founding-members of the AIADMK under M G Ramachandran. He became an MLA from Erode in 1977, and was first elected as a Member of Parliament in 1984 from Dharmapuri. He was also elected to the 9th, 12th, 15th and 16th Lok Sabhas. He has been serving as leader of the AIADMK in the House since 2009. In an interview, Thambi Durai spoke on the prevailing situation in Tamil Nadu. Excerpts:

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Q: How do you foresee politics in Tamil Nadu after the confidence vote won by E Palaniswamy?

A: As far as Tamil Nadu politics is concerned, the legacy of Amma (Jayalalitha) is going to continue and there will be no change. We are going to provide a good and stable government. The people of the state have voted for Amma and her party is in power. We are going to take up Amma’s programmes. I am sure people would appreciate our stand and the support will continue. We are going to carry forward the people-oriented schemes that she had envisaged and implemented. They are all going to continue. It may take some time but we will implement them.

Q: Is any action contemplated against those MPs who came out openly in support of O Panneerselvam and were against Sasikala Natarajan?

A: There is no split in the party, we are all together though there may have been some differences which is only natural. Therefore there is no necessity of action against any of them. We are all members of the AIADMK. Our effort in the coming days would be to establish the supremacy of the party which was created by Puratchi Thalaivar M G Ramachandran and Puratchi Thalaivai Amma (Jayalalitha). We are united and are going in the direction given by our leaders.

Q: Who do you think could have been behind this action by Pannerseelvam ?

A: You know very well that it is DMK and its leader Stalin. You would have seen what happened in the Assembly. You know that confidence vote means open voting and there is no rule which says that there should be secret ballot. If there is secret ballot than what is the necessity of having an anti-defection law that has been enacted by Parliament. It is open voting that is the practice even in Parliament. The anti-defection law was brought in Parliament to ensure a stable government and for development of the country. In this case Pannerseelvam sought a secret ballot with the support of DMK.

If you recall, even in 1989 the DMK voted to dislodge an elected government so that President’s rule could be imposed in the State. This time, too, the DMK wanted to dislodge the government established by Amma, so they colluded with Panneerseelvam. They sought to get President’s rule promulgated in the State. But the AIADMK MLAs remained true to Amma’s legacy and followed the rules properly.

Many DMK leaders say democracy is followed only in their party but what happened in the Assembly shows what kind of democracy the DMK is following. The party sought to derail democracy by indulging in the kind of action that they did. They occupied the Speaker’s chair and misbehaved.

You saw the violence that erupted inside the Assembly where mikes were pulled out and papers torn and thrown allegedly by DMK MLAs.

The AIADMK followed the path shown by the late Annadurai and our leaders M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalitha. The party MLAs behaved politely.

It was the DMK which even though it claims the legacy of Annadurai did not follow his ideals and supported Pannerseelvam. It was there for all to see. Pannerseelvam was encouraged by Stalin to press for secret ballot as they felt that this would enable the DMK to get the support of his group.

They enacted this drama inside the Assembly forcing the House to be adjourned but later it functioned smoothly and we got the confidence vote and the government was in place.

Q: What do you have to say to the charge that MLAs were forcibly taken away to the Golden Beach resort by Sasikala and kept locked up till the assembly met?

A: The MLAs were not forcibly taken away to the resort. Even the police came and saw where they stayed. The MLAs also gave a statement that they were staying at the resort willingly and wanted to discuss certain things concerning party affairs and how to proceed in the Assembly. Therefore to say that they were staying there forcibly is not true.

At that time Pannerseelvam was the Chief Minister and he too had sent the police but the police said the MLAs were staying at the resort of their own free will. I don’t know why eminent persons are saying such things. Whatever allegations are being made concerning the MLAs and their stay at the resort are not correct.

Q: Now that a government is in place, what would be the stand regarding Jallikattu?

A: A law allowing Jallikattu has already been enacted with the help of the Central Government, so there is no need for any further action in this regard. The Central government has also removed the word bull from the list of performing animals and there is no problem.

Q: How do you foresee relations with the Centre after the recent developments?

A: The policy of the Tamil Nadu government, be it under MGR or Amma, has always been to have good relations with the Central government. This will continue in the interests of the state. We hope the Centre would ensure that the elected government which still has about four-and-a-half years to go would last its full term.

It is only the DMK which is attempting to destabilise the government and they will fail in this move. Even at the time Amma was in hospital, the DMK attempted to topple the duly elected AIADMK government and made all attempts to capture power trying short cut methods. But we are all united and therefore Amma’s legacy would continue.

Q: What is your government’s stand regarding GST?

A: Our government even during the time of Amma had made clear its stand on GST. There will be no change under the present government in Chennai.

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