Tamil Nadu: No-confidence motion against Assembly Speaker P Dhanapal fails
Chennai: The AIADMK government on Thursday proved that its support in the Assembly is intact as it defeated the no-confidence motion against Speaker P. Dhanapal by getting the support of 122 members again.
A total of 97 members including the DMK, Congress and IUML supported the motion, while the faction led by former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam was absent when the vote was taken.
The government received the support of one more member as Mylapore MLA R. Nataraj voted against the motion brought by the principal opposition DMK. Deputy Speaker Pollachi V. Jayaraman did not vote since he had to be in Speaker Dhanapal’s chair when the no confidence motion was taken up.
The loss of Jayaraman’s support was compensated by Nataraj, who was with the Panneerselvam faction during the Februay 18 confidence motion moved by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami.
Moving the motion, Leader of Opposition MK Stalin said the Speaker did not use his power to conduct the vote of confidence moved by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami on February 18 in a fair manner.
The opposition members demanded secret voting on the confidence motion, but the Speaker did not accept the demand. He said secret voting had taken place in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand after the Supreme Court ordered it.
Stalin said the Speaker called more than 500 policemen, including IPS officers, inside the Assembly and evicted the DMK members en masse. The Speaker failed to ensure that the MLAs voted freely and acted with ulterior motives, the DMK leader charged.
He said the Speaker is allowing remarks, which defame the DMK and he is also refusing to expunge them from the Assembly records. The Speaker is not ready to accept the demand for live telecast of Assembly proceedings, showing that he was against transparency in Assembly proceedings.
Earlier, Speaker Dhanapal, commenting on the motion, said former Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa had hailed him for his neutrality. Quoting Jayalalithaa’s speech, Dhanapal said she had also commended him for his efficiency, capability and experience and made him the Speaker again. Dhanapal asserted that he was functioning in a detached manner in the Speaker’s post.
