On the last day of the budget session of the Assembly, everyone took turns to felicitate Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for completing two years in office, while she used the opportunity to rebut criticism about her frequent resort to an Assembly rule that allows her to make statements that entail no discussion.
In the last two years, the Chief Minister had made over a hundred statements under Rule 110, of which 45 were during the sixth session of the Assembly that ended on Thursday.
She said while the people welcomed the announcements she made under the rule, the DMK was making fun of it through public meetings and statements by its leader M. Karunanidhi.
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Mr. Karunanidhi had earlier raised the question how the new schemes announced by her in daily statements would be funded, as these were unveiled after the budget representation, whether they were part of the original budget or would have fresh allocations or remain mere paper announcements. Responding to this, she said sufficient funds would be allocated to all of them. Explaining the various methods by which schemes were funded – through the budget, through revised estimates and through the contingency fund – she said: “Mr. Karunanidhi need not have any suspicion about these announcements. Hence, I have pointed out the progress made in this regard in the last two years,” she added.