Nothing wrong: Stalin defends Udhay's IPL speech at Assembly

CHENNAI: BJP MLAs walked out of the Assembly on Thursday in protest of the Speaker refusing to expunge the mention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and his son by Sports Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin.

Raising the issue during the zero hour, BJP legislature party leader Nainar Nagendran said that the Sports Minister made a mention of Amit Shah and his son in his reply to a query raised about the issue of complementary IPL tickets to MLAs. Nagendran insisted that the reference must be expunged from Assembly records.

Rushing to the defense of his son, Chief Minister MK Stalin said that the Minister only referred to Amit Shah and no criticism was levelled. Wondering if it was unparliamentary to refer to the Union Minister, the CM said that he would get the statement expunged if they (BJP MLAs) showed something worth expunging.

Walking out of the House in protest of the decision, BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan told reporters outside the Assembly that the CM was supporting his son instead of correcting him. “He is a budding Minister. It would bode well for the Minister if the CM corrected him. She also wondered if the DMK would agree if similar mentions about DMK leaders were made in other state legislatures.”