As the feud over succession between the 86-year-old chief minister’s Madurai-based elder son M K Azhagiri and his younger sibling and Deputy Chief Minister M K Stalin continues to dog the party, the DMK chief refuted impressions that the attempts to revive the bicameral legislature in the state is a fall-out of internal bickering.
Winding up a 90-minutes charged debate on the resolution he moved earlier “to create the Legislative Council,” Karunanidhi denied allegations that the Upper House has been brought back to “accommodate some people.”
The bicameral Legislature created under the Government of India Act, 1935, was reduced to a unicameral body after the M G Ramachandran-led AIADMK regime passed a resolution on May 14, 1986, to abolish the “Legislative Council.” Later, the DMK made two attempts, first in 1989 and then in 1996, but both were stalled by political instability at the Centre.
The Assembly passed the resolution with the required two-thirds majority after some opposition parties pressed for a division. While 155 members voted in favour of the resolution, 61 in the 234-strong legislature voted against it.
Karunanidhi’s resolution was backed by the Congress, PMK and the Dalit outfit Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Katchi (VCK), even as the LC’s revival was stoutly opposed by the AIADMK, CPM and MDMK. Six members of the CPI, who were against the move, walked out to help the ruling alliance.
With Congress-led UPA managing the affairs at the Centre, Karunanidhi hopes that legislation to re-establish the LC can be brought in the Parliament soon.
Though the DMK had reiterated the Council’s revival in its 2006 Assembly poll manifesto, Karunanidhi termed it a “must” for a big state like Tamil Nadu. DH News Service
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