CHENNAI: The Leader of Opposition M.K. Stalin on Thursday urged Speaker P. Dhanapal to constitute the 12 Assembly committees and warned that his party would be forced to bring a no confidence motion against the Speaker if he refused to do so. A no confidence motion on the Speaker could be the first move to test the cohesiveness of the AIADMK in the Assembly under the present circumstances. Including the Speaker, the ruling party has 133 MLAs in the House, while the opposition has 98 members.
By-elections would be held to three seats on November 19 and the DMK has fielded nominees in all the three. Speaking to reporters at the Secretariat complex, Stalin said Assembly committees should be constituted as per Constitution and they had not been formed for the last five months after the Assembly elections in May. He said the committees that should be formed every year include committees for privileges, public accounts, Assembly business, estimates, public enterprises, Assembly rules, petitions and Assembly library. This is the first time in Assembly history that such committees had not been formed, he complained.
Recalling that he along with deputy opposition leader K. Duraimurugan raised the issue in the Assembly, Stalin said the Speaker had assured to form the committees. But, they had not been formed till now, he added. A petition to remind the Speaker was submitted to the Assembly Secretary on Thursday in the absence of the Speaker. Refusal to form the committees would create a situation of DMK tabling a no confidence motion on the Speaker. The principal opposition would also meet the Governor and make an appeal to him, Stalin warned.
The DMK treasurer visited the Secretariat to submit copies of the resolutions passed at the all-party meeting convened by his party on October 25 to Finance Minister O. Panneerselvam who is handling the portfolios of Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa. The resolution copy had been handed over to Panneerselvam's office since he was not present and another copy was given to Chief Secretary P. Ramamohana Rao.
