TN assembly mourns Karur stampede victims in brief opening session

All MLAs including from the ruling DMK, opposition AIADMK and BJP observed two-minutes silence for the victims of the stampede that had occurred on the night of September 27 at the rally of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) headed by Vijay

Chennai: Tamil Nadu in a special assembly session that began on Tuesday adopted a resolution mourning the 41 people who died in the Karur stampede at actor Vijay’s rally, a day after the Supreme Court transferred the probe on the tragedy from the state police to the CBI. The session will conclude on October 17 and the supplementary budget estimates is also expected to be tabled during this short session.

Members of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly during the ongoing session, in Chennai on Tuesday. (PTI)

All MLAs including from the ruling DMK, opposition AIADMK and BJP observed two-minutes silence for the victims of the stampede that had occurred on the night of September 27 at the rally of Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) headed by Vijay.

Members of the Pattalli Makkal Katchi (PMK) an ally of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) who amid internal turmoil in the party between father and founder S Ramadoss and son Anbumani Ramadoss sat in a dharna near the assembly asking for the removal of G K Mani as the floor leader. The protesting members support Anbumani while Mani backs his father.

Speaker M Appavu also condoled the deaths of Tamil Nadu BJP leader and Governor of Nagaland L Ganesan, former Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren, former Chief Minister of Kerala V S Achuthanandan, and Tamil Nadu IAS official Beela Venkatesan and several former legislators.

The supplementary estimates for the current financial year is likely to be presented on October 15. The legislative assembly will debate this on October 16, and finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu will reply to the discussion on October 17.

Neither chief minister M K Stalin nor opposition leader and AIADMK general secretary Edappadi Palaniswami (EPS) spoke in the House on Monday. But it is expected to be stormy in the coming days on the heels of the Karur tragedy and ahead of the next year’s assembly elections in Tamil Nadu.