DMK does not quit walk out tradition

CHENNAI: Sticking to the precedent they have set in every sitting of the Corporation Council, members of the DMK walked out soon after the Mayor finished reading out his Budget speech. Soon after the floor opened for debate after lunch, DMK members demanded to be allowed to speak. When Mayor Saidai S Duraisamy asked them to wait for their turn, they rushed to the well of the house, leading to a ruckus.“Please go back to your seats. I will give an opportunity for each of your 23 members to speak. I request ruling party members to keep silent till the DMK members return to their seats,” said the Mayor, in an attempt to calm the rabble-rousers.The DMK men led by Subhash Chandra Bose, party leader in the Council, then walked out. “They will not let us speak, so we walked out,” Bose told reporters outside the Council Hall. “The budget has nothing new. It is the same thing presented in previous years by DMK Mayor M Subramanian,” he added.The Mayor officially evicted the DMK members from the Council, for flouting the norms and disturbing the decorum of the Council.After their exit, the DMK councillors were the butt of ridicule of their AIADMK counterparts. “Unable to find fault with the budget, the DMK councillors have insulted the conventions of this House,” said AIADMK councillor MC Munusamy.