DMK MLA complains about not being invited to government functions

Speaker says a notice has been issued to Kanniyakumari Collector

DMK MLA S. Austin on Friday gave a notice of a motion to raise a question of privilege against Kanniyakumari Collector for not inviting Opposition party MLAs for a State government function.

Following this, Assembly Speaker P. Dhanapal said that officials should invite all MLAs in the region and include their names in the invitation to functions.

During the zero hour, when Mr. Austin (Kanniyakumari) said he was not invited to a function in his district, the Speaker said based on his notice, a reply had been sought from the official. Based on the response from the official, it could be decided whether it was a case of breach of privilege, the Speaker said.

When the Speaker refused to allow Mr. Austin to speak further, DMK president and Leader of the Opposition M.K. Stalin said such omission was not only in the case of Kanniyakumari district but also in Karur and other parts of the State.

But, Leader of the House and Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam intervened to say that DMK MLAs in Periyakulam and Andipatti had been invited to a recent function in Theni district.

Mr. Stalin said whenever his party MPs and MLAs contacted him to ask whether they could attend government functions on invitation, he had always encouraged them to do so. He hoped the process of inviting local MLAs and MPs could be streamlined.

But, Electricity Minister P. Thangamani said that Mr. Austin, who raised the issue of not being invited to functions, came only once in 10 days when the government invited all MLAs in Kanniyakumari district for review meetings when it was severely affected by the Cyclone Ockhi.