Irked over the alleged long replies given by Ministers when his party members were making speeches in the State Legislative Assembly, DMK Deputy Floor Leader M. Duraimurugan on Wednesday complained to Speaker P. Dhanapal that the ministers were giving long and time-consuming “lectures”.
The issue came up when Revenue Minister R.B. Udhayakumar was replying to queries on issuance of old-age pensions.
However, Public Works Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said it was the duty of the minister concerned to respond in a detailed manner when members made allegations against his or her departments.
“But you are taking all the time and the replies are consuming a lot of our time,” Mr. Duraimurugan quipped with a smile.
Soon, the Speaker intervened and said none could stop ministers from intervening and giving answers or clarifications over the allegations levelled by the members.
When Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin pointed out that his party legislator R. Rajendran (Salem-North) was not making allegations, but was only pointing out certain issues, Mr. Palaniswami intervened again to say while it was the duty of the opposition party to point out issues, it was the duty of the ministers to clear the misconceptions.
In his “verdict”, the Speaker ruled that one cannot say the ministers were taking too much time as they were either clarifying the issues raised by members or replying with the present status of the issues.
