CHENNAI: Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Thursday accused the DMK members of running away from the Katchatheevu debate after the opposition party walked out of the House alleging that they were not given chance to reply to the Chief Minister’s allegations on the issue.
When the Chief Minister cited DMK chief M. Karunanidhi’s reply to her earlier allegations on the issue and started listing a few questions for Karunanidhi to answer, DMK member K. Ponmudy, followed by a few party MLAs got up to speak on the issue.
However, the Chief Minister said “I am asking these questions to Karunanidhi. Let him answer them”. However, the DMK members created a ruckus in the Assembly demanding that they should be allowed to intervene in Chief Minister’s speech, even while the Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin was watching the exchanges silently.
Jayalalithaa charged the DMK members with raising a din since they were not able to answer her questions and added that nothing would happen if the DMK members created a ruckus in the House.
When the DMK members continued to press for their demand, Jayalalithaa said she would complete her speech in a few minutes and the DMK members could be allowed to speak after that.
Speaker P. Dhanapal said the Chief Minister had promised that the DMK members would be allowed to speak on the subject and asked them not to intervene in the Chief Minister’s speech. But, the DMK members walked out of the Assembly.
Commenting on the walkout, Jayalalithaa said, “The DMK members were listening silently to my address for one and half hours. When I raised the Katchatheevu issue, they know that they could not give answers. They have run away as soon as I said that I am going to raise questions on the issue. I expected this. Since, they were not able to reply, they created a ruckus. When they knew that they could not obstruct anything by their noise, they had run away,” she said.
“If the DMK members had the capability to answer my questions, let them answer. It they don't have the capability, they should bring their leader here to reply for the question,” the Chief Minister said.
“Karunanidhi says that he was unaware of signing the Katchatheevu and also says that a few clauses were added to the agreement after his intervention. Is it not contradictory?” Jayalalithaa asked.
Karunanidhi had claimed that some of the rights were restored after the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi pacified him, which also means that he had agreed to the pact, she said.
“Even after the then Jan Sangh leader said a case should be filed against the ceding of Katchatheevu islet, why didn't the DMK government file a case?” the Chief Minister asked.
After she filed a case in the Supreme Court in 2008 and later the Tamil Nadu government impleaded itself in the same in 2011, DMK too filed a case on 10 May 2013, keeping in mind the 2014 Parliament elections, she charged.
She also added that clauses providing rights for Tamil Nadu fishermen to dry their nets were not incorporated in the 1974 agreement.
The DMK members led by Stalin returned to the Assembly after Jayalalithaa completed her speech. But, they did not raise any questions on the Katchatheevu issue. The Chief Minister waited for some time and left the House.
