Why can't DMK walk out on BJP Govt.?: Speaker

By Radha Venkatesan

CHENNAI, SEPT. 8. As the DMK staged a walk-out from the Assembly on the Cauvery issue, curiously the Speaker, Mr. K. Kalimuthu, expressed the hope that the DMK would pull out of the BJP-led Central Government if the Centre failed to resolve the crisis.

Minutes before the day's proceedings ended, the DMK resorted to a walk-out after the Speaker said the issue could not be discussed in view of the all-party meeting scheduled in the afternoon. However, the DMK member, Mr. Durai Murugan, asked the Government if it recognised the Cauvery River Water Authority headed by the Prime Minister. (The AIADMK's position is that the Authority is futile).

Even as the PWD Minister, Mr. Thalavai Sundaram, rose to reply, the Speaker said a response was not necessary, prompting Mr. Durai Murugan to lead his party colleagues out of the House.The DMK, which was staging a walk-out almost daily till last week, once again resorted to that form of protest this afternoon amid jeers from the ruling partymen.

And, the Leader of the House, Mr. C. Ponnaiyan, declared that the DMK members walked out as their failure to press the Centre for resolving the crisis was exposed in the Assembly.

The Speaker said he expected the DMK to ``walk out'' on the Central Government too.

Meanwhile, the DMK president, Mr. M. Karunanidhi, told the media that the Cauvery River Water Authority comprising the Chief Ministers of the four riparian States should be convened. ``What is the use of convening the Cauvery monitoring commitee? During a similar crisis a couple of years ago, it was resolved only by the Authority,'' he said. However, the State Government had made no such efforts to convene the Authority since July.

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Section  : Southern States
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