Chennai, Aug 19:
Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker JCD Prabhakar on Tuesday pulled up Energy and Law Minister R Nirmalkumar for making remarks about former Chief Minister and late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi during a discussion on the killing of three Tamil-origin persons in Karnataka.
The remarks triggered strong objections from DMK members, leading to a noisy exchange in the Assembly during the Special Calling Attention Motion.
The Speaker intervened and directed the minister to stick to the subject under discussion. He cautioned ministers against bringing up unrelated issues while responding to a Calling Attention Motion.
“I didn’t know whose attention you wanted to attract by speaking about matters outside the subject. You should consider the problems created when speaking about other things,” Prabhakar said.
The Speaker also asked Nirmalkumar to confine his response to the issue concerning the killing of the three Tamil-origin persons by Karnataka forest officials.
At the same time, Prabhakar directed DMK members to remain calm and stay in their seats when the Opposition Whip was speaking.
The incident came amid heightened exchanges between the ruling benches and the Opposition during the discussion on the Karnataka incident.
The Speaker reiterated that members should maintain order and ensure that debates remained focused on the subjects listed for consideration.