O Panneerselvam scoffs at Opposition members' claims on election results

Chennai: The results of the recent election echoed in the Assembly with state finance minister O. Panneerselvam ridiculing the Opposition members saying the “AIADMK has passed” and this made all the difference.

“We passed getting good marks and you failed. That’s the difference,” he said reacting to Congress legislature party leader K. R. Ramasamy who asserted that the DMK combine failed to capture power as it lost the election by a slender margin.

Initiating a debate on the motion of thanks to the governor for his address to the Assembly on Wednesday, Mr Ramasamy, commencing his speech by greeting AIADMK for its victory in the May Assembly elections, remarked the AIADMK combine secured a total of 1.76 crore votes while the DMK alliance obtained 1.71 crore votes. “In terms of vote share, the AIADMK got 40.8 per cent while the DMK 39.7 per cent. The difference is just 1.1 per cent,” he said.

Intervening, Panneerselvam said, “we passed getting good marks. You failed and that is all the difference.” His prompt rebuttal sent peels of laughter amidst the Treasury benches. “I agree. We failed and you passed,” a cornered Ramasamy admitted and began speaking on other issues inviting frequent intervention by the ministers.