Chennai: Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) working president M K Stalin and other MLAs who were detained while protesting outside the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Wednesday were later released.
Stalin and his party members were evicted when they shouted slogans demanding permission to discuss an expose by an English news channel.
The sting operation claimed that jailed AIADMK leader Sasikala allegedly offered money to rival OPS camp’s MLAs to support Chief Minister Edapadi K Palanisamy’s ahead of his February trust vote. Palanisamy won the trust vote held in the state assembly on the back of support offered by 122 AIADMK legislators.
Speaking to the reporters in Chennai, Stalin said, “On Thursday we will be visiting the Tamil Nadu Assembly to raise questions regarding the same issue. We are not convicted by any court like Sasikala and Jayalalitha.”
The Tamil Nadu Assembly, earlier on Wednesday, passed the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill amid a ruckus created by the DMK party over a demand for a discussion on the alleged bribery case involving some All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) MLAs.
Tamil Nadu’s Minister for Commercial Tax K C Veeramani tabled the GST Bill which was later passed despite strong opposition by the DMK.
Speaker P Dhanapal refused to discuss the expose on the floor of the house as it was sub-judice. He further said the issue cannot be discussed also because there was no major proof to substantiate apart from the media report.
Undeterred, the DMK MLAs protested against the Speaker’s decision by displaying pamphlets with the words ‘MLAs for sale’ on it.
As ruckus ensued in the Assembly, the Marshalls tried to take the protesting DMK MLAs out of the Assembly.
The DMK MLAs then, led by Stalin, had taken to the streets to raise slogans against the AIADMK’s alleged bribery case.
South Madurai MLA Saravanan, who had deflected to the former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam faction, admitted on camera that Sasikala camp offered him money between Rs 2 crore to Rs 6 crore for his support.
ANI