AIADMK expels MP for slapping another; Sasikala says her life in danger

Accused of having slapped DMK MP Trichy Siva at Delhi airport, AIADMK MP Sasikala Pushpa was on Monday expelled by party supremo J. Jayalalithaa even as Sasikala claimed that it was, in fact, she who had been slapped and faced threat to her life in Tamil Nadu.

There was high drama in the Rajya Sabha during Zero Hour when the Thoothukudi-based MP rushed into the well of the House, seeking permission to make her statement. With many MPs and Leader of the Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad asking the Chair to allow her to speak, the inconsolable Sasikala Pushpa said her life was in danger.

Breaking down several times while asking protection of the House, Sasikala said she was being forced to resign from the Rajya Sabha.

Nevertheless, the AIADMK promptly expelled her. In a brief statement, Jayalalithaa said that Sasikala was being expelled from all party posts, including primary membership, as she had acted in violation of the party principles and ethics for “bringing disrepute to the party“.

“Her behaviour has brought great disrepute to the party,” the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister said in Chennai.

She asked party supporters not to have any truck henceforth with the MP.

Before Jayalalithaa took prompt action against her, Sasikala struggled to present her side of the story in the Rajya Sabha.

Even as she asserted that she was being forced to resign from the ‘constitutional post’and made allusions to being slapped by a “leader”, she did not make it clear who slapped her and when.

“If an MP is being slapped by a leader, where is human dignity,” she said, while her own party MPs started protesting in the House.

As she found support in opposition members who wanted the chair to allow her to make her full submission, A Navaneethakrishnan (AIADMK) walked into the well and out of it multiple times demanding that her remarks be expunged.

“I have life threat... I am being compelled to resign from my constitutional post,” she said. “Where is women’s safety in this country? ... I am being harassed. I need protection. In Tamil Nadu, I don’t have safety. There is threat to my life.”

Sasikala said she was thankful to her party leader for sending her to Rajya Sabha but “if a leader can slap an MP, I need protection. I need government’s protection.”

“I want to serve the country (and not resign),” she said. .

“I am not here in Rajya Sabha for any benefit.”

Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said the Chairman was custodian of all members of the House and he will protect her too.

He, however, asked her not to mention anyone’s name who cannot come to the House to defend himself or herself.

The aggrieved member can write to the Chairman for necessary action, Kurien said.

But the opposition benches broke into protest saying she should be allowed to make her full submission. Women members of Congress party moved to the aisles and vociferously raised the issue of her plight as a fellow member.

Outside the House, Sasikala claimed her expulsion had no link with the airport incident involving Siva, also a Rajya Sabha MP, and that pressure was being put on her for the last two months to resign. “They are harassing me,” she said.

COMMENT NOW