Tamil Nadu Assembly session begins tomorrow, sans Jayalalithaa's presence

Chennai: Amidst a host of issues likely to be raised by opposition parties, the short session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly begins here on Thursday sans the presence of AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa who has been convicted in an illegal wealth case.

The session for the first time will not have the presence of Jayalalithaa who has been earned disqualification as legislator in the wake of her conviction.

Incidentally, this will be the maiden session faced by Chief Minister O Pannerselvam who was handpicked by Jayalalithaa to succeed her.

In her absence, it will be a tough task for Pannerselvam and his cabinet colleagues to face the opposition parties, who are geared up to raise several issues of public import, including the death of 17 infants in the neonatal wards of Dharmapuri and Salem hospitals.

The Moulivakkam building crash on June 28 that claimed more than 60 lives is expected to reverberate in the house.

The purchase of power from private companies and of eggs for the noon meal scheme also top the list of issues likely to be raised by opposition parties in the House.

Ahead of the session tomorrow, the government made Electricity Minister Natham R Viswanathan Leader of the House last week and further reshuffled secretaries of departments, including the Chief Secretary yesterday.

K Gnanadesikan,former head of TANGEDCO was made the Chief Secretary, while the incumbent Mohan Verghese Chunkath was shunted out as state-run Director of the Anna Institute of Management.

While DMK has scheduled an MLAs meeting this evening to decide on issues to be raised in the House tomorrow, sources say DMDK founder and Leader of Opposition Vijayakant is mulling attending the session.