CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly's 2026 inaugural session started with walkouts, first by the Governor and later by the opposition parties AIADMK, BJP, and PMK.
The opposition's walkout followed Speaker M Appavu's refusal to grant permission for a discussion on law and order, prompting Leader of the Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami to demand the Chief Minister's resignation and accuse the DMK government of statewide administrative failure.
Even as Governor RV Ravi left without delivering his customary address, the opposition parties soon followed suit. Chief Minister Stalin later moved a resolution, passed by the ruling alliance, to treat the English text of the undelivered address as official.
However, the core confrontation erupted when Palaniswami sought to debate the law-and-order situation in the State. Denied by the Speaker, he led his AIADMK legislators out of the House, joined by allies BJP and PMK, raising slogans against the government's "refusal to allow debate on people's issues."
Addressing the media afterwards, Palaniswami cited the Governor's address document to outline a litany of failures. He highlighted that MoUs worth Rs 12 lakh crore remained unimplemented, causing Tamil Nadu's industrial investment ranking to slip from 4th to 6th.
Citing the address, he presented what he called grim statistics: a 33% rise in sexual harassment cases, 55% of Pocso cases, about 2,000 drug abuse-linked suicides, and a surge in atrocities against Scheduled Castes. He noted that nearly 20,000 suicides in a year made Tamil Nadu the "suicide capital of India."
Palaniswami also pointed to vacancies in educational institutions and widespread protests by government employees. "During the AIADMK rule, law and order were firmly maintained. Under the DMK regime, it has completely collapsed," he alleged, concluding that the ruling party's refusal to act warranted the Chief Minister's resignation.