CHENNAI: Clarifying the announcements on various departments made by her under Rule 110 of the State Assembly, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Friday said she made the announcements only after getting the nod of the State Finance Secretary and examining the financial feasibility of the schemes.
Intervening the deputy leader of the DMK, Durai Murugan, who started speaking of announcements being made under Rule 110, the Chief Minister said he was asking why she was making announcements on a department for which the discussion on demand for grants was already over.
“This question was raised during the previous AIADMK regimes too. All ideas of new schemes do not strike the government simultaneously. If that were so, the DMK could have implemented all the schemes when that party was in power. We are thinking of public welfare round the clock. The Minister has already made some announcements on schemes which struck our mind then. Later on, more ideas bubble up, and after examining them, I make new announcements,” she clarified.
The Chief Minister went on to say, “We will never announce whatever comes to our mind. We would never say that two acres of land would be given to each person and later go back on our promise,” recalling the unfulfilled electoral promises of the DMK. When Durai Murugan wanted to know the source of funds for the new scheme since the revised budget had already been presented, the Chief Minister said there were many stages of financial transactions: budget estimates, revised estimates and financial management assessment estimates. There would not have been any confusion on 110 announcements if the member had knowledge of it, the Chief Minister said.
Durai Murugan then tried to clarify something for which Speaker P Dhanapal denied permission. DMK members then walked out of the House as Congress and IUML members followed suit.