The 24-day session of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, starting on Wednesday, is expected to be stormy, with the opposition set to challenge the government on a range of issues including the alleged bribing of ruling party MLAs, the prevailing drought and its impact on agriculture, the stalemate over admission to MBBS/BDS courses and so on.
With the AIADMK (PTA) making it clear that it is not in favour of a merger with the ruling AIADMK (Amma), it would also seek to counter ministers, though the Speaker may not treat its legislators as a separate block.
The AIADMK government is gearing up to table and pass the State Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill in the House, as stated by Finance Minister D. Jayakumar in the GST Council meetings.
A Bill to replace the ordinance relating to the appointment of Vice Chancellors to State-run universities (Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017) is also expected to be tabled in the House this session.
Policy decisions
The DMK, the principal opposition party, has been raising various issues such as adulteration of milk, farmers’ woes and the prevailing drought in the State. The DMK, the Congress and the IUML have submitted private-member resolutions seeking a debate to record the achievements of DMK president M. Karunanidhi.
As the State government has taken important policy decisions in the last two months such as introducing public examination for Class XI students, revision of guideline value relating to sale deeds and registration of unapproved lands, the House could witness debates on these issues too.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami chaired a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, in which new announcements to be made in the House during the Assembly session were discussed.
MGR centenary events
Sources in the Secretariat said that the State government has also taken a decision on celebrating the birth centenary of AIADMK founder and former Chief Minister M.G. Ramachandran.
“The plan is to start the celebrations in Madurai on June 30 and to continue the celebrations in all districts,” an official said.
