Exchanges over Jayalalitha remark

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, MAY 31. The Chief Minister, Ms. Jayalalitha, today sparked a furore in the Tamil Nadu Assembly, describing the former Chief Minister, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, as an ``evil force''.

The DMK members, who rose in loud protest, found a matching response from the treasury benches forcing both the Chief Minister and the leader of the opposition, Mr. K. Anbazhagan, to advise restraint on the part of partymen.

With the Speaker, Mr. K. Kalimuthu, refusing to expunge the remark made by Ms. Jayalalitha, the House was drowned in noisy exchanges.

The stage for the dramatic scenes was set by the MGR- ADMK member, Mr. Austin, who said the AIADMK-led front's victory in the election was made possible by the alliance arithmetic as all the partners had their own votebanks.

This provoked Ms. Jayalalitha to say Mr. Austin, who was a member of a party which invoked the name of MGR, had no right to talk of the AIADMK's votebank, as he had allied with Mr. Karunanidhi whom MGR himself had described as an ``evil force''. Mr. Austin and his party owed their identity to MGR, but, by allying with the DMK, they had betrayed the AIADMK founded by him, she said. Actually, MGR formed the AIADMK to oppose the DMK, but Mr. Austin entered the House by winning the election with the DMK votebank. MGR himself had described Mr. Karunanidhi as an ``evil force'', she pointed out.

As the DMK members were on their feet in protest, Mr. Anbazhagan wanted the Chair to clarify whether it was proper to allow such terms to go on record and whether the Opposition members too would be allowed to make such remarks against ruling party leaders. He wanted to know whether it would be in keeping with the traditions of the House to have such remarks from both sides to go on record.

Ms. Jayalalitha maintained that the remark was made, not by her, but by MGR in the House. Agreeing with Ms. Jayalalitha, the Speaker ruled that she had merely quoted MGR. Also, similar remarks had been made by DMK members in the previous Assembly. When Mr. Anbazhagan wanted to know whether the ruling party members would tolerate similar remarks from the Opposition members, Ms. Jayalalitha retorted that she had borne cruel, scandalous and degrading comments from the DMK members.

Another DMK MLA, Mr. K. Ponmudi, wanted to know whether the Chair would allow the Opposition members to recall the remarks against Ms. Jayalalitha purportedly made by MGR.

Ms. Jayalalitha wanted the Chair to direct Mr. Austin to resume his speech and reply to any of the remarks she had made, and not allow the DMK members to continue with their interventions.

Mr. Austin, without touching on the ``evil force'' remark, went on to defend his party against the charge that it betrayed MGR. In this context, he recalled that he had worked to build up the AIADMK in Kanyakumari district. Ms. Jayalalitha replied that she had given him a Rajya Sabha seat only because he had worked for the party, but he was not grateful and left the party after it had suffered a defeat in 1996. The MGR-ADMK member then pointed out that he had remained in the AIADMK till the Pudukottai by- election in 1997 and that he was forced out of the party.

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Section  : Southern States
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