Stand your ground on Houseprotest: Stalin to party MPs

CHENNAI: Chief Minister and DMK president MK Stalin, on Saturday, got into a huddle with the party MPs, barely a couple of days after over a dozen Opposition MPs, including a few of the party, were suspended by the Lok Sabha Speaker.

The discussions happened as DMK MPs, led by its Parliamentary party leader TR Baalu and leader in the Rajya Sabha Trichy Siva, met Stalin at Anna Arivalayam to donate a month’s salary of the party MPs towards the CM’s Public Relief Fund. Though all MPs were not part of the discussions on floor strategy, one of the MPs who took part in the meeting said the CM discussed the ongoing Lok Sabha suspension row with the Parliamentary party leaders separately.

According to sources privy to the meeting, Stalin advised his Parliamentarians to stand their ground and continue to demand a reply from the Prime Minister or the Home Minister in the House on the issue of security breach in the Parliament.

Asked if the party would water down its demand and go easy on the MPs’ suspension issue, a DMK senior, on condition of anonymity, said: “Where does the question of toning down arise? Have they withdrawn the suspension? Has the PM or HM replied in the House? We stand by our demand. Our leader was also of the same view.”

Significantly, one of the suspended DMK MPs was the party deputy general secretary who made a strong pitch for the PM or Home Minister to break the silence on security breach issue.

Meanwhile, Stalin was learnt to have advised the party MPs to coordinate with the rest of the INDIA bloc Parliamentarians and work jointly on the issue. Stalin and senior leaders of the DMK have already been very vocal in registering their condemnation against the MPs’ suspension.