Chennai: Assembly Speaker J C D Prabhakar on Tuesday warned ministers that he would not tolerate any further out-of-line remarks and directed them to confine their responses to the subjects under discussion.The warning came after law minister R Nirmalkumar’s remarks about former chief minister M Karunanidhi triggered an uproar from the DMK. Prabhakar intervened and said he was expunging the remarks. “I don’t know why the minister is speaking in such a manner and whom he is trying to impress. I cannot permit this anymore,” he said sternly. Nirmalkumar was replying to a special calling attention motion on the gunning down of three Tamils in Karnataka forest.The Speaker said ministers could cite references and respond to matters related to the subject under discussion. They could also refer to measures taken by the previous govt on the issue but should not deviate from the context of the debate. The Speaker had, over the past few days, expunged several remarks made by ministers Nirmalkumar, Aadhav Arjuna and K G Arunraj for going off topic while responding to the opposition. He also directed members to abide by the instructions of their respective party whips.
