Southern States - Tamil Nadu   

All set for stormy Assembly session

By Radha Venkatesan

Chennai Oct. 22. After nearly a half-year break, the Tamil Nadu Assembly meets on Thursday, promising a volatile week-long session with a hostile Opposition combine raring to take on the AIADMK on a slew of issues, particularly the ordinance banning "forcible" religious conversions.

Six months are not too short for not-so-subtle changes on the political scene. In the past half year, the main opposition, DMK, has drawn away from its ally, BJP, while the AIADMK has virtually slammed the door on the Congress.

The session is likely to mirror the changed scene, with the BJP having enough reason, to move to the right side of the ruling party, while the DMK and the Congress, both "humiliated" at the hands of the Jayalalithaa regime, are intent on settling political scores.

Especially in the past half-year, the AIADMK Government has offered an array of issues _ ranging from political to public concerns _ to fuel an Opposition onslaught. The Congress, which till the last Assembly, played a "junior team" of the AIADMK, is now left with no choice but to coordinate with the DMK, the Pattali Makkal Katchi and the Left parties to launch a joint offensive on the Government.

As the new State Congress chief and MLA, S. Balakrishnan, said: "After Ms. Jayalalithaa's sudden attack on the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, over her Italian origins, can we still support the Government? An aggressive face of the Congress will be seen in the Assembly."

However, the focus of the entire Opposition will be on the much-riled Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Ordinance, promulgated just over a fortnight before the beginning of the session, which the Government is keen on pushing through as legislation despite protests from minorities.

While the House will certainly witness a heated debate when the Bill, replacing the measure, comes up for discussion, the ordinance amending the Tamil Nadu General Sales Tax, 1959, which brings all rice dealers under the tax net on a slab basis, is also likely to generate some heat.

According to the ordinance, the dealers should pay varying scales of tax depending on the turnover. It ranges from Rs. 3,000 per annum for a turnover of Rs. 3 lakhs and less to Rs. 3, 79,980 for those with a turnover between Rs.1.80 crores and Rs. 2 crores.

This apart, the Opposition MLAs have already readied a bunch of adjournment notices on the rise in the price of PDS rice, the new decentralised system of paddy procurement, the proposed stir by government and transport corporation staff for bonus and other benefits and, of course, the vexed Cauvery issue.

As the Congress MLA, C.Gnanasekaran, claims, "there are lots of issues, but too little time is available this session for debate."

But the anti-conversion ordinance is likely to remain the focus of the session.

And, it could well be a prelude to a creation of a new "secular" Opposition equation, simultaneously bringing the BJP and the AIADMK another crucial step closer.

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