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TMC walks out of assembly for first time

Members of the Tamil Maanila Congress, an ally of the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, today staged their first ever walk-out in the Tamil Nadu assembly in protest against police inaction during yesterday's burning of effigies of party president G K Moopanar and former Union minister P Chidambaram by Tamizhaga Rajiv Congress volunteers in front of the Indian Bank headquarters in Madras.

Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, who had announced the arrest of five TRC workers this morning in connection with the incident, was caught by surprise when leader of the Opposition S Balakrishnan led his colleagues out of the House.

The TMC legislators were not satisfied with Karunanidhi's reply that burning of effigies was a sudden, unforeseen event.

As the TMC members were walking out, the chief minister recalled that burning of effigies, though condemnable, was not entirely an uncommon act for political parties. Effigies of leaders have been burnt even inside campuses of party headquarters, he pointed out.

The TMC legislators trooped back into the house after Karunanidhi appealed to them to return and participate in the debate on the demand for grants for the forest department.

Karunanidhi said five TRC workers -- Purasai Kumaran, Kanchi Sukumaran, Devarajan, Chandran and Mohan -- were arrested this morning. The harbour police inspector who was present at the spot was transferred.

Karunanidhi condemned the burning of effigies of Moopanar and Chidambaram, and termed it as an "uncivilised act". Political parties should avoid targeting leaders of other parties in this manner, he added.

Although several parties including the DMK had resorted to burning of effigies in the past, he said such practices should be avoided in future. Effigies could only be symbols of oppression and there was no point in targeting leaders, he added.

Earlier, condemning the burning of effigies, Balakrishnan said the Indian Bank loan defaulters belonged to all parties and came from the general public also. Moopanar and Chidambaram were not among the list of loan defaulters, he claimed.

UNI

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