CHENNAI: Sparks flew during the discussion on the demands for grants for police department in the State Assembly on Tuesday as Leader of Opposition MK Stalin levelled charge after charge while Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and a few ministers countered them then and there. The witty as well as angry remarks of Deputy Leader of Opposition, Durai Murugan added flavour to the discussion.
Winding up the discussion on the demands for grants for police department, Stalin charged that there were loss of lives in prisons, during demonstrations etc., Countering, the Chief Minister gave the number of persons who had lost lives during the previous DMK regime. “There is no differentiation between your regime or our regime. Loss of lives due to law and order issues happen during any regime. But when compared to other States, law and order is maintained excellently in Tamil Nadu and the crime rate also has come down drastically,” the Chief Minister asserted.
When Stalin said that during the AIADMK regimes since 2011, so far three inquiry commissions had been formed to go into police excesses, Panneerselvam said “The inquiry commissions are formed to inquire whether police excesses took place, but the opposition leader was trying to give judgment in advance saying there were police excesses.”
Recalling that leaders in Tamil Nadu including Periyar, Arignar Anna, M Karunanidhi and J Jayalalithaa never gave room for communal forces, Stalin charged that of late, the present government was acting in a manner which would support communal forces. Strongly objecting to this, Panneerselvam said the Leader of opposition was trying to sow poisonous seeds in the Assembly by making this charge. Palaniswami too countered Stalin and wondered when the DMK was part of the BJP government, was it not communal. “You were part of the BJP government. But now we are not part of the Central government,” he added.