DMK stages another walkout from TN house after failed talks on cattle trade

Chennai: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Tuesday staged another walkout from the Tamil Nadu Assembly following their dissatisfaction over Chief Minister E Palanisamy's "unacceptable" reply on the question of cattle trade regulations.

After the walkout, DMK working president M K Stalin addressed the media and said, "The Chief Minister's reply on the cattle trade regulations is not acceptable. He should condemn the issue as the Kerala Chief Minister is doing. He should at least bring a notification regarding the slaughter issue."

This is the DMK's fifth consecutive walkout from the Assembly after discussions on the alleged sting operation of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLAs accepting bribes were not allowed to take place.

Earlier on June 19, Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal ruled that the DMK Compact Disc (CD) submitted to raise the issue of alleged horse-trading of some AIADMK MLAs was only a TV channel's video footage with no evidential value.

The issue could not be allowed to be raised in the House based on the media reportage, be it print or visual, Dhanapal said, adding the CD submitted by DMK legislator K Pichandi only contained footage aired by a television channel.

Matters pending before the court too cannot be raised, Dhanapal said adding that allowing discussion on such matters would go against the House rules and traditions.

Stalin had earlier expressed dissatisfaction over Palanisamy's reply on the R K Nagar by-poll irregularities.

Stalin, whose party along with the Congress, staged a walkout from the state's Assembly after the Chief Minister's reply, said that Palanisamy gave a very vague answer when questioned about the case.

This development came after the Election Commission on Sunday, in a response to Right to Information (RTI) query, directed an FIR against AIADMK leaders T T V Dinakaran, Palanisamy, Vijayabhaskar, Sellur K Raju, Thangamani, Sengotaiyan and Velumani in R K Nagar by-poll bribery case.

The EC in a statement said that it had received a report from the income tax department regarding the search and seizure of certain documents indicating large scale distribution of money to bribe voters to influence the by-polls in R K Nagar Assembly Constituency which is an offence under Section 171-B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The commission has demanded a quick and appropriate action in the matter.