Chief Minister V. Narayanasamy has dismissed the charge against his government of leaking the budget before it was presented in the Legislative Assembly.
Replying to a point of order raised by Congress member R.K.R Anantharaman in the Assembly on Tuesday, the Chief Minister said making sector-wise allocation in the public domain before presenting the budget cannot be considered a leak.
“Only making public the tax structure amounts to a budget leak,” he said.
In a detailed response, the Chief Minister said much before the budget was presented, he had convened a meeting of opposition parties. In that meeting, department-wise allocation was discussed and even written documents related to sector-wise allocation was shared with the members.
Intervening on the issue, Speaker V. Vaithilingam said that in 1974, following a similar incident, the then Speaker S. Pakkiam had ruled that only if the tax structure in the budget was leaked out it could be considered as budget leak.
Moving his point of order, Mr. Anantharaman said the Opposition, by staging a boycott on Monday while the budget was being presented over a known issue, had lowered the dignity of the house.
Privilege motion
Speaker V. Vaithilingam said his office has received a privilege motion moved by AIADMK legislative leader A. Anbazhagan on the budget leak. The Privileges Committee will decide whether to admit the motion or not, he informed the House.
