Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal today ruled out reconsidering his decision to suspend DMK members from the House for a week.

Seven out of the nine non-suspended legislators of the DMK, along with the Congress and IUML members, requested Dhanapal to the revoke suspension order. When they raised the issue initially, Dhanapal said he would take up the matter after the question hour. Following this, the DMK, Congress and IUML members staged walk out, only to return soon.

Soon after the question hour, the Speaker took up the issue and Congress, DMK and IUML members spoke on it. They said the DMK MLAs should be allowed to do their democratic duty, and hence, the suspension order be withdrawn.

Explaining his stand, Dhanapal pointed out the way the DMK members had been conducting themselves right from the first day of the session. “They are making fun of AIADMK members. They are passing unsavoury remarks at me. They are talking bad of the Chief Minister. They are not following any rules and disrupting the proceedings. I had been putting up with all these to ensure the smooth conduct of the Assembly,” he said.

Pointing out to CLP leader K.R. Ramasamy, Dhanapal said he (Ramasamy) being a senior member would be aware of the pain that he (Dhanapal) is going through. “But still, he and others are demanding revoking of the suspension order,” he added.

On a daily basis, DMK MLAs were disrupting the proceedings by raising some issue or the order. “My only intention is to run the House in a smooth manner. But they were not allowing me to do so. They were not paying heed to my repeated requests. Finally, they forced me to take the decision to suspend them.”

Even Stalin himself expressed regret over the conduct of DMK members in the House. “But even after that there was no stopping the DMK legislators. They were not listening to him also,” the Speaker remarked.

Dhanapal further said that it was with deep pain that he ordered the DMK MLAs’ suspension. “I cannot allow the wastage of taxpayers money,” he said and added that there was no question of revoking the order.