The allegations included the arrest of ruling party functionaries continuously one after the other on drug charges and the suspicious action of the Minister at the cricket ground during an IPL match.
Chennai:A heated debate between the ruling TVK and opposition DMK on the use of narcotics in the state broke out in the Assembly on Monday with the leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin listing out a series of charges against the government and Minister for Human Resources Management D Sharathkumar asking if the DMK would accept that it was responsible for sale of narcotics during its tenure.
Sharathkumar’s charge against the DMK came after Udhayanidhi Stalin wanted to know what action was taken against Sharathkumar, who was caught in a video showing him crushing a white substance using a bank plastic card during an IPL match in the past but claimed that he was powdering a tablet to be given as medication to his sick child.
Referring to the series of charges against the Government levelled by Udhayanidhi Stalin during the discussion, Speaker J C D Prabhakar wanted to know if he had furnished any evidence to all those allegations.
The allegations included the arrest of ruling party functionaries continuously one after the other on drug charges and the suspicious action of the Minister at the cricket ground during an IPL match.
Stating that he had explained his action at the cricket ground already, Sharatkumar said the DMK was in power at that time and wondered if the party leaders would accept that they were responsible for the drug trade then. There was no need to rake up the issue again and again after it had been explained to the House, he said.
DMK leader and former Minister K N Nehru said that the Minister was talking about a Rs 888 crore corruption charge that was pending in court without replying to the question on his behavior when Minister for PWD and sports, Aadhav Arjuna intervened and said the100 days rule of the TVK had laid the foundation for a 25-year regime.
The TVK rule was brought in by the youth and women of the State, to whom the government would be faithful to, he said and referred to death of two students Amuthan and Dhanush recently due to alleged drug related conflicts. It was the charge raised by the DMK on the two deaths that triggered the debate.
Arjuna said that the Ministers had already explained the two tragedies and the government considered the two youth as brothers. To a remark by the DMK member that police reports alone should not be taken cognizance of drug related incidents, Arjuana said that if the choice was between the family of the deceased students and the police, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay would only stand by the family of the youth.
Udhayanidhi Stalin said that when a drug charge was raised against a DMK functionary Jaffar Sadhik in the past, the party immediately expelled him from the party but the TVK had not gone for any such action against its members. ‘Have you taken any action?’ he asked the ruling party.
