Chennai: Taking the populist route to overcome palpable public anger against the ruling party, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palanisami on Monday announced implementation of high-cost welfare measures promised by J Jayalalithaa during her 2016 election campaign — 50 per cent subsidy to working women to buy mopeds and rise in maternity assistance from Rs 12,000 to Rs 18,000.
Besides, the new Chief Minister, immediately after taking over on Monday morning, announced closure of another 500 Tasmac liqour shops in line with the AIADMK’s poll promise of implementing prohibition in a staggered manner. Late Jayalalithaa had announced closure of 500 Tasmac shops on May 23 after she took over as Chief Minister for the sixth time.
The Chief Minister signed two other files – construction of houses for fishermen and increasing the assistance given to unemployed youth. The five new schemes now announced would cost the exchequer an additional Rs 676 crore per year.
The petition is likely to come up for hearing on February 21. Narrating the sequence of events including manhandling and eviction of DMK MLAs that happened on February 18, Stalin said the Speaker ought not have to have conducted the floor test on the confidence motion moved by Palanisami, with the captured MLAs, without giving them the full freedom to exercise their franchise, in order to reflect the mind of the public in their respective assembly constituency.
But, the Speaker of the assembly totally with a biased mind influenced by Palanisami's party to retain power in one way or other held the floor test in undemocratic way by total misuse and abuse of his self-declared power, ignoring the well-established parliamentary procedures, in present situation, he added.
He said the Speaker ought not to have conducted the voting process by forcibly evicting the members of all the opposition parties from the assembly, with support of the outside police force. A letter of the Assembly secretary was later purposely disclosed, as if he wrote the said letter to the Commissioner of Police permitting nine named police officials specifically to enter into the assembly premises, in watch and ward uniform to evict DMK members. This itself was sufficient to show the malafide action of the Speaker, that when the said police force were used, the Speaker was not in his seat, in such situation, the police cannot be used inside the assembly hall.
More so, the said letter itself should be an after thought and should have created thereafter when the news broke out in the media that outsiders were allowed inside the house to illegally evict the members. All things have been pre-planned by the Speaker and the assembly secretary much earlier in connivance of the Chief Minister. In the use of such highhanded muscle power of the police, all DMK MLAs have sustained injuries. Hence, absolutely, the entire process was arbitrary, perverse, whimsical and capricious, liable for judicial review by this court, he added.
He said he has submitted two representations to the Governor, requesting him to intervene in this issue, to nullify the illegal decision of the Speaker and to take appropriate action by exercising his Constitutional power. But, no action was taken so far, he added.
