AIADMK councilors got into a heated argument, marking the first time that they were involved in a screaming match among themselves, in this regime. The focus of the controversy was the fact that they had earlier voted to allow the demolition of Anna Arch. The admission that they had allowed such a thing seemed to get the AIADMK councilors into a tizzy amongst themselves, as they usually would with their DMK counterparts.
The furore started when Item No. 68 was tabled for the Council’s approval. The text of the item outlined that the Council had permitted the demolition of the Arch on the condition that the statue of Annadurai at its base would be reinstalled at a site chosen by the Corporation. This made a few AIADMK Councillors reach a state of frenzy.
S Santhanam, Councillor of Ward 38 and the Chairman of the civic body’s Finance Standing Committee, strongly decried the admission that the Council had granted permission for the Arch’s demolition.
Santhanam continued to speak angrily, even as Mayor Sadai S Duraisamy tried to calm him down. This prompted some of the members to scream at Santhanam, asking him to sit down. This heckling brought some councillors to Santhanam’s support.
By this time, the DMK councillors had staged a walkout.
It took a few minutes for the Mayor to regain control of the Council, as he called out to each of the warring councillors by name and asked them to take their seats. Santhanam and a few others gave in only after the Mayor made a statement on the record of the house, that both the Council and he himself had been misled into given the go-ahead for the demolition of a monument that was built by party founder MGR.
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