A free-for-all erupted inside the Tamil Nadu assembly today over a trust vote as aggressive demands for secret voting degenerated into chairs and tables being broken, mics being broken and the Speaker being manhandled.
Amid a complete media blackout of the drama inside the assembly, lawmakers of the opposition DMK lawmakers surrounded Speaker P Dhanapal’s chair, toppled his table, tore papers and booklets and manhandled him.
As the Speaker was escorted out by security personnel, a lawmaker was seen sitting in his chair and laughing.”Where do I go, tell the public about the torture meted out to me,” Mr Dhanapal said later, alleging that his shirt was torn. He announced the eviction of the DMK lawmakers.
In all this chaos, there was no live telecast and audio to the media room was cut off.A large contingent of policemen moved into the assembly building.
The chaos erupted just as Chief Minister E Palaniswami was to face a trust vote after demands for secret voting, backed by the O Panneerselvam-led AIADMK faction and the opposition DMK, was rejected by the Speaker. Opposition lawmakers refused to allow the trust vote and demanded that Mr Dhanapal defer it.
