NEW DELHI, 14 August — Tamil Nadu’s politics of attrition and acrimony took center-stage in the Indian Parliament yesterday and forced adjournments of both houses, a day after claiming six lives.

A verbal clash between Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party and All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) deputies forced the speaker to adjourn parliament even as Madras city returned to normal after Sunday’s bloody rally.

A police official, however, said special police posts set up on Sunday remained in place in some sensitive areas of the city to prevent fresh violence.

 Once, the mostly Hindi-speaking members in both houses sat back and blinked while Tamil members of parliament (MPs) of the state’s main opposition DMK party went on the offensive, blocking proceedings and shouting slogans.

They were demanding the dismissal of the government of state Chief Minister Jayaram Jayalalitha and a judicial probe into police action against a DMK rally in Madras on Sunday that left six people dead and 100 injured.

Bowing to the pressure, however, the state government ordered an inquiry yesterday into the eruption of violence at the rally.

Five people were killed and dozens wounded when DMK supporters, clashed with police in Madras on Sunday.

The sixth victim, a DMK lawmaker in the state’s legislature, died of a heart attack at a local hospital yesterday after collapsing during the weekend clash.

The MPs started their slogan shouting in English with cries of “We want justice” but soon switched over to Tamil that could be barely distinguished above the general din.

“Dismiss, dismiss Jayalalitha,” shouted most of the 12 DMK MPs in the Lok Sabha (lower house). One MP, V. Vetriselvan, stormed toward Speaker G.M.C. Balayogi’s chair and proceeded to take off his white shirt, revealing red weals and bruises on his rather portly frame.

Vetriselvan alleged he was badly beaten by the police. His party colleagues in the Rajya Sabha (upper house) likewise brought proceedings to a standstill.

The DMK MPs kept alternating between English and Tamil, screaming “police arajakam” (police atrocity) and “kuttarwali” (criminal) Jayalalitha”.

The house looked on in amused silence as the DMK MPs rallied around the bare-chested Vetriselvan.

Not content with displaying his injuries in the Lok Sabha, Vetriselvan walked over to the Rajya Sabha lobby. “Why shouldn’t I remove my shirt and show my wounds? How else can I show what is happening in Tamil Nadu?” he said reacting to criticism that his action smacked of “un-parliamentary behavior.”

If the DMK MP took off his shirt, an AIADMK member frantically waved newspaper clippings to “prove” that it was the police who were roughed up by DMK workers.

The DMK MPs then congregated at the library to prepare a petition to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee. Spotting a rival AIADMK lawmaker, Minister of State for Health A. Raja remarked with a grin: “Stop supporting Jayalalitha or you will some day end up with scars and bruises.”

Other MPs who witnessed yesterday’s events in parliament noted how state politics were consuming an increasing amount of time in parliament.

“Although today’s issue was a valid one to raise, this preoccupation with state affairs has never happened so much earlier,” remarked a leftist MP.