Jayalalithaa dares Vijayakanth to take action against his party’s rebel MLAs

Chennai: Continuing her attack against the opposition DMDK in the assembly Chief Minister Jayalalithaa dared its founder Vijayakanth to take action against his party’s rebel MLAs and asserted that unlike him she never tolerated any party member with mistakes or criminal activities.

Piqued over DMDK legislator Muthu Kumar repeatedly heaping up allegations on the functioning of the prisons during the debate on Thursday, Ms Jayalalithaa said she never tolerated party members with criminal charges.

“I have expelled them (AIADMK members) from positions and party if they were found to have criminal charges against them,” she said.

Pointing at the stiff opposition by DMDK members when its rebel MLA Shanthi made a vain attempt to intervene as her erstwhile colleagues stood up demanding to reply, Jayalalithaa said, “DMDK whip V.C. Chandrakumar called your member Shanthi a traitor and a deserter. Why does not your leader take action against your member whom you are calling traitor and a run away?”

When Muthu Kumar remarked that ‘Captain’ (DMDK founder Vijayakanth) had taken action against errant party members, housing minister Vaithilingam jibed, “for which battalion is he captain? Our AIADMK is more disciplined than army.”

Muthu Kumar invited trouble when he stated that prisons were unhygienic. Intervening in the debate, social welfare minister Valarmathi sarcastically asked if the member had been to prison or any of his party members gone to the prison to know about the existing amenities there.

House leader Panneerselvam said the problem with the DMDK legislators was that all of them stood up to speak and that they were inexperienced.