Chennai, Nov 19: The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday witnessed heated exchanges between Speaker P T R Palanivel Rajan and some TMC members over the issue of expunction of A Dheeran's (unattached) remarks that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi gave a bullet-proof vest to LTTE chief V Prabhakaran.When some TMC members refused to sit down despite the Speaker's order, the latter at one stage said now he understood what TMC had meant by its statement last week that the party would display `por gunam' (militant attitude) in the Assembly. The Speaker, however said, he would continue to remain neutral and impartial. He was not bothered about the TMC's attitude against the DMK. If the TMC had any grievance against him (Speaker) it could even bring a no-confidence motion against him, using its 26 MLAs.Leader of Opposition in the Assembly S Balakrishnan (TMC) intervened to state that the TMC had full faith in the Speaker and added that the party was satisfied with the way he conducted proceedings.Denying the TMC members' charge that Dheeran had spoken in a demeaning manner against Rajiv Gandhi, the Speaker at one stage turned down Balakrishnan's request to expunge Dheeran's remarks on Rajiv. He even warned TMC MLAs R R Sekaran and M Appavu of eviction if they continued to defy his order to resume their seat.It all started, when Dheeran, who was participating in the adjournment motion on yesterday's jail riot, denied C Gnanasekaran's (TMC) charge that he had links with the LTTE. Dheeran then said that ``even Rajiv Gandhi gave a bullet-proof vest to Prabhakaran; then can we say that Rajiv Gandhi and LTTE had connections?''. This triggered protests from the TMC members.Earlier, speaking on the motion Balakrishnan wondered how the prisoners had become as audacious as to riot. Perhaps the statements of PMK founder S Ramdoss and Tamizhar Desiya Iyakkam president P Nedumaran seeking clemency for Rajiv's killers had emboldened them. He pointed out that Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had also not made any strong statement denouncing their demand.The CM intervened to point out that his statements were only regarding death penalty. He did not seek mercy for Rajiv's killers, he said.Balakrishnan however pointed out that if the CM felt so, he should have said it more forcefully.
