CHENNAI: Tempers ran high in the Assembly on Tuesday as Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and Leader of Opposition M K Stalin were engaged in arguments over certain key issues, including relief works in Cyclone Ockhi-hit Kanniyakumari and the ongoing bus workers strike.
The dispute over the issue of cyclone warning, scale of compensation to the affected people and relief measures generated much heat in the Assembly during the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address to the Assembly.
When Deputy Leader of Opposition Durai Murugan said the Chief Minister visited Kanniyakumari after Stalin, Palaniswami intervened to say he dispatched Udhayakumar as soon as the cyclone struck, before sending Electricity Minister P Thangamani and Jayakumar. “You should see what action was taken,” he said.
Intervening at this moment, Stalin said all that he could do was to listen to the grievances of the people. But if the Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister had visited the place, directions could have been issued to officials on relief measures.
He explained the quick relief measures and noted he was second to none in discharging the duties and serving the people and appealed to the Opposition not to try to belittle or ridicule the work done by the government.
Another issue that led to a long battle between the two sides was the ongoing bus strike. When the Opposition questioned why the Chief Minister was not ready to invite the striking workers and chair the negotiations himself to end the stir, Palaniswami blamed the DMK of instigating the stir, resulting in a heated exchange again.
Responding to the comments made by J Anbazhagan on the bus strike, Palaniswami said, “He is talking in such a way that instigates the strike and not to end it.”
When Stalin lamented that it was an insulting remark from Edappadi Palaniswami, he questioned whether LPF was not the labour wing of the DMK.
Anbazhagan’s remarks on the strength of the government in the Assembly being reduced to 111, Deputy Speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman’s comments on a popular DMK slogan in the 1970s and the quantum of compensation to fishermen hit by Ockhi sparked spirited arguments and heated exchanges between the Opposition and the Treasury Benches.