Chennai : The DMK Parliamentary Party leader and former Union Minister T.R. Baalu alleged that Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary K. Shanmugam humiliated a team of Members of Parliament on Wednesday. Baalu has threatened to take up the issue with the Parliament Privileges Committee.
Refuting Baalu’s charge, Shanmugam said it was “painful to read the twisting” of facts related to the incident.
In a statement issued on Wednesday night, Baalu said a group of DMK MPs –Baalu, Dayanidhi Maran, Kalanidhi Veerasamy and Tamizhachi Thangapandian — had been to the state Secretariat to meet Shanmugam to submit one lakh petitions seeking COVID-19 relief.
Baalu said Shanmugam insulted the MPs “by not even extending the basic courtesies and was focussed on watching the television without listening to our plea to take action on the one lakh petitions”.
As the television volume was very high, Veerasamy had requested a staffer of Shanmugam’s office to reduce it, but the latter prevented it, Baalu alleged.
Baalu said Shanmugam declined to commit any timelines on the action to be taken on the petitions and “forgetting that he was the Chief Secretary of the state and the MPs were representatives of over one crore people” in a loud voice said: “This is the problem with you people.”
A senior DMK leader Baalu condemned Shanmugam for allegedly insulting the MPs, saying the matter would be taken up with the Parliament Privileges Committee if the official did not express regret for his behaviour and offer an apology.
Responding to the charge, Shanmugam said he had welcomed the MPs’ delegation and seated them on a sofa “from where the television is not visible”.
The Chief Secretary said about 10-20 persons had brought big bundles of petitions into his room and that during Covid-19, such a gathering in the room made him tense.
Shanmugam said he had told Baalu that a timeframe for action taken on the petitions cannot be committed as the staff was limited.
According to Shanmugam, DMK leader Baalu further queried whether he could convey that to Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin.
“This is the problem with you people, you don’t understand our difficulties — was all that I had said then,” Shanmugam recalled.