Chennai: It was a furore in the State Assembly today with DMK working president MK Stalin leading his party members in a walkout after displaying a CD he claimed to contain the ‘evidence’ of ‘cash for MLAs’.

They walked out from the House after Speaker P Dhanapal refused to receive the CD from Stalin and enquired if the disc was proof enough in the bribery row.

Stalin later told mediapersons: “Though we produced evidence about the sting operation, the Speaker refused to give us permission to discuss the issue.”

He said the CD of the sting operation was given to the Speaker and was requested to watch it so that discussions could be held later. “But, he refused and did not allow discussion on the matter. The bribery row is a shame for the entire State,” Stalin said.

Earlier, a call attention motion was moved by DMK member K P P Samy pn the issue of releasing Tamil fishermen arrested by the Sri Lankan Navy. He said 149 boats had been damaged.

“During the DMK regime, fishermen were rescued. I request that the State and Central governments intervene and take immediate steps for the rescue of these fishermen,” he said.

Minister for Finance and Fisheries D Jayakumar said Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and taken up the issue and the government was exerting pressure on the Centre.

“The arrested fishermen will be brought back at the earliest and Rs 90 lakh will be given as compensation for the damaged boats,” he added. It was only once during the AIADMK regime that fishermen were shot at, he said, adding that this was not the case when the DMK was in power.