CHENNAI: Principal opposition party DMK and the AIADMK engaged in a war of words in the Assembly on Monday over the allocation of funds for converting the residence of the late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa into a memorial. The comments of DMK MLA B Ranganathan (Villivakkam) that government had to borrow money as it suffered cash crunch to construct the memorial, triggered an outrage with Minister for Electricity P Thangamani slamming the MLA.
Deviating from his usually composed style, the minister hit out at Ranganthan saying that the late leader was so popular that samadhi and her residence were registering a huge number of footfalls every day. He also blamed the DMK member for belittling the construction of the memorial.
Referring to the accusations of the Opposition about the law and order situation, Thangamani said Papparapatti Suresh, a local DMK functionary, was involved in the murder of six persons belonging to the family of a retired police officer in Salem. The late DMK leader Veerapandi Arumugam had visited Suresh in prison.
DMK MLAs took to their feet, leading to pandemonium. Stalin was engaged in a heated argument with Thangamani amid chaos. He said Suresh was exonerated in the case and the verdict was upheld by both the HC and the SC. He also asked whether the minister had not met Jayalalithaa when she was in prison.