DMK govt, Assembly Speaker unwilling to extend assembly session beyond 2 days, says SP Velumani
He called it “disappointing,” as it would not allow MLAs enough time to raise the issues, including the flood and rain-related issues, affecting the people in their respective constituencies.
AIADMK headquarters secretary and former minister S P Velumani
CHENNAI: Former minister and senior AIADMK leader S P Velumani on Monday criticised the DMK government for limiting the forthcoming session of the state assembly to just two days, December 9 and 10, despite their demand for a 10-day session.
He called it “disappointing,” as it would not allow MLAs enough time to raise the issues, including the flood and rain-related issues, affecting the people in their respective constituencies.
“The DMK had promised to hold 100 days of assembly sessions each year as part of their election promises. But I doubt whether they have conducted 100 days of assembly sessions since they came to power. In fact, they concluded the last budget session in just nine days,” said Velumani after attending the Business Advisory Committee meeting chaired by Speaker M Appavu at the Secretariat.
Velumani was accompanied by party Deputy Leader of Opposition R B Udhayakumar.
AIADMK General Secretary and Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami insisted on conducting the session for at least 10 days.
They presented their leader’s demand and urged the Speaker to consider it.
However, their request was not taken into account. This limited session would prevent MLAs from bringing the people’s issues to the assembly for redressal. “It is unfortunate,” he said.
Velumani charged that neither the Speaker allowed members to speak, nor were the assembly sessions conducted for an adequate number of days.
On property tax hikes, the former minister explained that during his tenure as Minister for Municipal Administration, Urban and Water Supply, no taxes had been increased in the 10 years of the AIADMK regime. However, the present dispensation has increased the taxes by 100% to 150%.
“There was pressure to hike taxes during our regime, but we approached the 14th and 15th Finance Commissions and successfully negotiated against tax increases to protect the people from a financial burden,” said Velumani.
He added that there is no need to agree to whatever the Centre says regarding taxes.