Members of the DMK on Wednesday staged a walk out from the Tamil Nadu Assembly protesting a reference made by Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam to the 2G spectrum scam during his reply to the debate on the State Budget.
During his reply, the Chief Minister rebutted claims made earlier by DMK member Durai Murugan on the financial situation of the State and the non-utilisation of funds as pointed out in reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG).
Mr. Panneerselvam said there was a clear difference between reapportioning funds and “misappropriating” funds. If the CAG thought undue loss has been created by mismanagement of funds, it could recommend action and go to court. As far as the State was concerned, the CAG has made no such remarks.
ADVERTISEMENT
However, referring to the 2G spectrum allocation, he said the CAG had pegged the loss from the scam at 1.80 lakh crore. This was the despicable act of the DMK, he charged.
The remark upset the DMK members, who were on their feet at once. Some of them wondered how the Chief Minister was speaking on an issue pending in courts when the Opposition is always asked not to raise matters under legal dispute.
When their request to expunge the remark was denied by Speaker P. Dhanapal, they staged a walk out. However, the incident brought out the witty side of Mr. Panneerselvam, who compared the DMK’s action with a story about a politician walking out of a saloon on a flimsy reason and said the Opposition was using this ploy for every thing. This evoked laughter among members.
ADVERTISEMENT
Remark on Karunanidhi expunged
Meanwhile, the Speaker expunged a remark made by an AIADMK member mentioning the name of DMK president M. Karunanidhi during the question hour, after DMK members protested against the comment.