Premallatha Vijayakanth Questions Tamil Nadu Assembly Disruptions

DMDK legislator Premallatha Vijayakanth on Thursday criticised the recurrent disruptions in the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly in Chennai, questioning whether the House was turning into a "fight club" amid repeated verbal confrontations between the treasury and opposition benches.

The assembly witnessed heated exchanges during the debate on the demands for grants for the social justice department. Intervening during the session, Premallatha raised concerns over the conduct of proceedings, noting that debates were repeatedly devolving into verbal spats rather than focusing on legislative business.

Premallatha stated that legislators spend several hours preparing to bring public issues and constituency matters to the floor of the House, remarking that they prepare harder than for exams. However, she said members are frequently denied adequate time or the opportunity to make meaningful contributions due to persistent interruptions.

Highlighting public reaction to the House proceedings, Premallatha warned that citizens are closely watching the conduct of elected representatives. She noted that people from her own constituency had expressed disappointment over the developments in the House over the past few days, asking in Tamil, "Ithu satta mantrama, illai sandai mantrama?" (Is this an assembly or a fight club?).

Former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami also voiced concern over the disruptions, pointing to the loss of valuable legislative time in the assembly.

Speaking to reporters outside the assembly chamber later, Premallatha said that she had urged Speaker J C D Prabhakar not to encourage PWD Minister Aadhav Arjuna to intervene unnecessarily and divert scheduled debates during the session.