The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly on Monday passed with a two-thirds majority a resolution seeking to revive the Upper House, the Legislative Council. As many as 155 members voted for and 61 against the resolution.
Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi moved the resolution for the revival and said that this was one of the few unfulfilled promises made in the 2006 election manifesto.
The Opposition AIADMK and the CPI (M) insisted on a vote after a debate, and Speaker R.Avudaiappan, called for voting. The motion needed the support of two-thirds of the members present in the House at the time of voting. The DMK, the Congress, the PMK and the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi voted in favour of the resolution.
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The AIADMK, CPI (M) and the MDMK opposed it. The CPI staged a walkout.
For the DMK, all 99 members barring the Speaker voted in favour. This included former Minister NNKP Raja, who has not been attending the sessions ever since he was removed from party posts and the ailing Electricity Minister Arcot N.Veerasamy. The lone nominated member Oscar Nigli also voted in favour.
As many as 35 Congress members, 17 PMK members, VCK member D.Ravikumar and three others — Poovai Jegan Moorthy (who won on a DMK ticket), P.Selvam (who has joined the BSP but has not given his resignation in the required format) and S.Ve Sekar (unattached member) — voted for the revival of the council.
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One Congress member (C.Gopal) was absent, as also a PMK member, who had gone out of the House and did not return in time before the Speaker ordered the doors closed.
Asked about this, the PMK whip, T.Velmurugan told The Hindu that all the members were issued a three-line whip. The member, Mugaiyur MLA V.A.P.Kaliavaradhan, has been asked to give an explanation, Mr.Velmurugan said.
Of the 61 opposition votes, 49 belonged to the AIADMK, nine from the CPI (M) and three from the MDMK. The strength of the Opposition was depleted by the absence of eight AIADMK MLAs, including its leader Jayalalithaa. Natham Viswanathan, who is ailing and hospitalised, could not make it. M.Chandra, an AIADMK MLA, whose election is under challenge in the Madras High Court and K.C.Vijayakumar, who has been suspended by the Speaker for having misled the House, were absent.
Kovilpatti MLA, L.Radhakrishnan, and Jayakondam MLA, K.Rajandran, who defected to the DMK, were not present in the House. Others absent were C.V.Shanmugham and R.D.Ganesan.