The Tamil Nadu Assembly witnessed tumultuous scenes on Monday (Septenber 7, 2026) after Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay launched a scathing attack on the DMK and its leaders, accusing them of corruption and referring to the Sarkaria Commission report of the 1970s, the Veeranam ‘scandal’ and the alleged collection of “party funds” by what he referred to as the “Karur” gang.
Last week, Mr. Vijay had said he would make his reply and warned the DMK members not to “run away.”
DMK MLAs, who had remained silent until 9.56 a.m. when the Chief Minister began his reply, started raising slogans and displaying pamphlets later. They surrounded the Speaker and even resorted to a sit-in protest after Mr. Vijay departed from his prepared speech, raised his voice and targeted the DMK, case by case, accusing its leaders of nepotism.
He further cited songs of former Chief Minister and AIADMK founder M.G. Ramachandran (MGR) and the words of late Tamil poet Kannadasan to attack the DMK. “You always say that you have faced MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act). But we know the history behind the MISA,” the Chief Minister said, further attacking the DMK.
Mr. Vijay also said he belonged to the league of Annadurai and MGR, leaving out the other Chief Ministers who had ruled the State.
Speaker’s refusal for permission
Speaker J.C.D. Prabhakar paid no heed to the demands of DMK members to respond to the Chief Minister. Later, he said the objective of the DMK MLAs was to prevent the Chief Minister’s speech from reaching the people.
“You complained that he had not spoken. When he spoke, you did not allow him even for a minute. You tried your best and are tired of it,” the Speaker said.
At one point, DMK deputy leader K.N. Nehru spoke to the Chief Minister and asked him to tell the Speaker to allow their leader, Udhayanidhi Stalin, to respond. Mr. Vijay was seen making gestures indicating that only the Speaker could take the decision.
As some of the members who had sat on the floor found it difficult to get up, Mr. Vijay lent a helping hand to DMK MLA Durai Chandrasekar to help him rise.
Subsequently, Mr. Vijay asked the Speaker to allow the DMK to speak. Even as the DMK MLAs returned to their seats, the Speaker ruled that he could not allow them to speak as they had not allowed the Chief Minister even a minute to address the House.