By IANS,
Chennai : The opposition AIADMK and MDMK Friday staged a walk out from the Tamil Nadu assembly protesting the speaker’s decision to not allow them to speak on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.
When AIADMK’s Jayakumar said the island nation had violated international war norms by killing around 50,000 people in the final assault phase of the ethnic war, Speaker R. Avudaiappan intervened and said the notice to discuss the issue was given to him only Thursday. He added that a decision would be taken on the issue later and hence denied Jayakumar permission to speak further.
AIADMK members then protested and demanded that a discussion on the issue be taken up in the house immediately. When the speaker refused to budge, party members, barring S.Ve.Shekher, walked out of the house and members of MDMK followed suit.
The house also witnessed exchanges between members of the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Congress on the relationship that exists between the latter and the DMK.
Citing the changed equations at the centre where the Congress can stand on its own, Balabharathi of the CPI-M said even when the central government was supported by the Left and DMK, the states got just 27 percent share in the central finances.
Now with the central government able to stand on its own, will the states be able to get a higher share from the central revenues, he asked.
Responding to that, Congress legislator Peter Alphonse said the revenues are shared between the central and the state government based on a formula and added that they too agree that the states should get higher sums.
The day also saw Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin tabling the demands for grants for Local Administration and Rural Development Departments.
Referring to the water demands in Chennai, he said there is an urgent need to find a source that could provide 15TMC water to the city.
He said the government is planning to appoint an advisor to plan and execute a project that would quench the city’s water needs.
Referring to the Hogenakkal drinking water project, he said preliminary works are on. Various tenders are being processed and the whole project will be completed by 2012, he added.