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Over Remarks against House: CM TN speaker rejects apology, to refer DMK MLA to House panel
DMK MLA Markandayan G V on Friday appealed to the Tamil Nadu Assembly to forget the remarks he made against the House and chief minister C Joseph Vijay at a public meeting last month
DMK MLA Markandayan G V on Friday appealed to the Tamil Nadu Assembly to forget the remarks he made against the House and chief minister C Joseph Vijay at a public meeting last month.
However, Assembly Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar said he would take action as Speaker and refer the matter to the House Privileges Committee once it is constituted.
The Vilathikulam MLA came under fire after he made derogatory remarks against the Assembly and the chief minister at a public meeting on July 18. After a video of the speech went viral, a case was registered in Thoothukudi district. Markandayan was arrested on July 20 and lodged in Palayamkottai prison. He was released on bail on August 3 and attended the Assembly proceedings on Friday.
During the session, Prabhakar invited Markandayan to respond to the remarks. Energy, resources and law minister R Nirmal Kumar then urged the Speaker to take action, saying the MLA had made defamatory remarks against the chief minister and the House.
TVK general secretary and public works and sports development minister Aadhav Arjuna also said a letter had been submitted to the Speaker seeking action against Markandayan.
Prabhakar said the letter alleged that the MLA’s remarks diminished the dignity of the House, posed a threat and lowered its prestige.
Acknowledging that Markandayan had raised “excellent points” in the House on Friday, Prabhakar referred to the speech delivered at the July 18 public meeting.
Calling the remarks “distressing” and “regrettable”, Prabhakar said, “honourable member (Markandayan) is now speaking respectfully alongside members of the House. But the speech he delivered outside caused pain in the hearts of everyone, like you and me.”
Noting that a case had already been registered and the matter was sub-judice, Prabhakar said he had two options — take disciplinary action within the House or refer the matter to the Privileges Committee.
“let the Privileges Committee be formed. Once formed, after seeking a proper explanation from him, I will refer this issue to the Privileges Committee,” he said.
Former DMK minister and party whip E V Velu urged the Speaker to reconsider his decision. Prabhakar, however, stood by his decision.
“If the speech made outside targets the Assembly, lowers the dignity of a Member in the Assembly, or compromises Assembly security, it is certainly something I must take note of (as a Speaker). As such, I am referring it to the Privileges Committee. Let them take action after receiving his response,” he said.
Later, after hearing Prabhakar and Velu, Markandayan apologised and requested the House to forget his remarks.
“I was born and raised in the land of freedom fighters including Veerapandia Kattabomman. Being raised in a land where powerful energetic leaders live, the words I told came out of me unconsciously. I humbly request you to forget those words,” he said.
