Amidst high drama outside the Central Prison here, Tamaraikani was re-arrested and sent back to prison, as police took into custody AIADMK functionaries protesting the re-arrest and manhandled mediapersons covering the event.

The Speaker found a way out to avoid a confrontation by letting the jail staff comply with the court order, and then, directed his fresh arrest to serve the 15-day simple prison term imposed on him by a House resolution yesterday for assaulting Agriculture Minister Veerapandi S Arumugam inside the Assembly on March 22.

He announced that the court order, on a habeas corpus petition by AIADMK MP O S Manian, covered only his March 22 order placing the MLA in custody for a week, and not the subsequentresolution unanimously adopted by the House.

At the end of the day, the two-pronged strategy to abide by the court order and the Assembly's decision seemed to have helped in avoiding an impending confrontation for now, but the morrow holds no such promise, as the court will hear a plea against the resolution and re-arrest.

Meanwhile, the Madras High Court, too, appeared eager to avoid a confrontation with the legislature, when it refused to initiate contempt proceedings against the prison staff for delaying the MLA's release, as sought by the petitioner.

The bench, comprising Justice T Jayarama Chouta and Justice S Thangaraj, who had ordered Tamaraikani's release yesterday, reiterated their directive this morning. Later, after the member was released and his re-arrest ordered by the Speaker, the bench expressed satisfaction that its directive had been complied with.

In the assembly, members deplored the high court's intervention in a one-track debate marked by repeated requests to the chair forensuring that the controversial legislator, with a history of violent incidents behind him, served the prison term as decided by the House.

Speaker P T R Palanivelrajan said he would not take note of any court order or summons, and hoped good sense would prevail on all concerned so that various limbs of democracy remained sovereign in their respective domains.

Chief Minister Karunanidhi advocated a cautious approach on the ticklish issue so that everyone emerged unscathed.

Meanwhile, former AIADMK Minister T M Selvaganapathy, while being removed from the prison gates, said the DMK regime had imposed a `mini-emergency' in the state by not respecting the courts and arresting those who had come to meet the MLA on his release.