For the first time since forming the government, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has apparently witnessed a disappointing voice from his own camp for not fulfilling a poll promise and it was recorded in the assembly session. On Monday, speaking at the assembly session, DMK MLA Markandeyan has expressed his disappointment over not fulfilling the promise of probing the death of late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, who died in 2016, after 75 days of hospitalization in Chennai. 

In its election manifesto for the recently-held assembly polls, the DMK has promised that it will expedite the probe into the death of Jayalalithaa after coming to power. It must be noted that the previous ADMK regime had formed a commission under retired Justice Arumugasamy to probe the circumstances that had led to the death of Jayalalithaa. However, there has been no potential progress in the probe and the previous government had poured several extensions to the deadline of the commission in completing the probe. 

DMK's MK Stalin has assured that he will fasten the probe into the death of his rival leader during the campaign trials. However, as the DMK government is yet to expedite the probe, the DMK MLA has now expressed disappointment over not fulfilling this particular promise. By expressing his disappointment, DMK MLA Markandeyan had appealed to the Chief Minister to expedite the Arumugasamy commission to probe Jayalalithaa's death. The session was debating on the revised budget and the legislator said, "I request on their (ADMK) behalf to fulfil the poll promise soon and produce the responsible people before the court of law at the earliest." 

Markandeyan had joined the DMK in October 2020 and he had contested and won from the Vilathikulam constituency. After hearing his statement, the opposition ADMK had strongly objected to his remarks of seeking justice in the death of former Chief Minister and ADMK's supremo. Deputy leader of Opposition and ADMK's Coordinator O Panneerselvam has said that Markandeyan's speech was against the assembly rules as the probe is in sub judice, which prohibits public discussion on the matter. Panneerselvam had appealed to Deputy Speaker Pitchandi, who was in the chair, to remove Markandeya's remarks from the assembly records. However, the Deputy Speaker had noted that the DMK MLA had made a general statement and refused to remove the remarks from the assembly records. 

History of Arumugasamy commission: 

The one-member inquiry commission was formed in 2017 to probe the death of Jayalalithaa. Edappadi Palaniswami-led regime had formed the commission as per the demand from his short-term rival Panneerselvam to merge the scattered camps of ADMK, that split following the demise of Jayalalithaa. The ADMK regime had initially given three months time for the commission to disclose its report. The commission had investigated Jayalalithaa's relatives, government officials, and doctors of Apollo Hospitals who treated Jayalalithaa.

The previous government went on to provide more extensions and last month, the commission was given six more months time in what has become the 11th extension within four years. As the commission didn't make any significant progress, a plea was filed in the Madras High Court earlier to dissolve the commission. The court has asked the government why it can't pass an order that the commission has to submit its final report in three months. The judicial body had last month asked the government to file its response in six weeks.