AIADMK MLA from Mylapore and popular theatre personality S Ve Shekher caused a furore in the Tamil Nadu Assembly when he refused to join a walkout staged by party colleagues, choosing instead to congratulate DMK president and Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s son M K Stalin, who was recently elevated to the post of Deputy Chief Minister. Shekher, who has been sidelined by AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa, also asked the Speaker to note that he was facing threats to life and property from AIADMK members.

Trouble began soon after the House convened for the Budget session on Wednesday morning, when AIADMK members, led by Opposition Leader O Panneerselvam and party whip K A Sengottaiyan, alleged irregularities in the recent general elections, in which the ruling DMK romped home with an unexpected victory.

When Speaker R Avudaiappan refused permission to raise the issue formally, AIADMK members barring Shekher staged a walkout. Opposition parties PMK, MDMK and the Left parties, too, followed suit after the Speaker refused permission to raise the issue of money and muscle power allegedly deciding the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls.

Shekher, once one of the prominent Brahmin faces of the AIADMK, has fallen out of favour with Jayalalithaa, and was the only Opposition member inside the House at this point.

Matters worsened when the Speaker, after recording the felicitations to Stalin offered by state Finance Minister K Anbazhagan and Congress whip Peter Alphonse, asked if anyone else wished to congratulate the new Deputy Chief Minister. At this point, Shekher stood up to congratulate Karunanidhi’s younger son and added that he was facing threats to “life and property” from AIADMK members.

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