CHENNAI: The State Assembly witnessed a wordy duel between the members of the ruling AIADMK and the opposition DMK over the remark of an AIADMK member and a complaint by Municipal Administration Minister K P Munuswamy that former Minister Durai Murugan made awkward gestures in the House. At the end, the DMK MLAs staged a walk-out protesting Speaker D Jayakumar’s refusal to provide an opportunity for Durai Murugan to explain his stand.After a week-long boycott of the Assembly proceedings over the seating arrangem-ent, DMK members attended the House on Tuesday. But staged a walk-out during the question hour itself.When AIADMK member Manoharan said that rules and laws were modified during the previous regime, former Whip A R Chakrapani objected to it stating that the member went against the House Rule that there should be no charges made during the question hour. Following this, DMK members protested. Municipal Administration Minister complained to the Speaker that Durai Murugan had conducted himself in a manner unbecoming of a senior member of the House by making “awkward gestures and using wrong body language”.When the Speaker said he would not tolerate such activities in the House, Durai Murugan categorically denied that he made any gesticulations and was only sitting with folded hands. Meanwhile, Leader of the House O Panneerselvam intervened and charged that the DMK members were responsible for the problem in the House as they started objecting to Manoharan’s speech without listening to him fully. Later, former AIADMK Minister B Valarmathi slammed Durai Murugan saying that he was responsible, among others, for ‘insulting’ Chief Minister Jayalalithaa many years ago in the State Assembly when she was in the opposition and he, therefore, cannot talk about fairness.DMK once again demanded that they be allowed to respond and asked the Speaker to expunge Valarmathi’s remarks, which he declined. Following this, Durai Murugan led his colleagues in a walk-out.
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