Remarks over IMFL procurement sparks furore

Chennai, May 26 (UNI) A remark by DMK MLA Appavu that Midas Golden Distillery, allegedly owned by the family members of AIADMK General Secretary J Jayalalithaa's close aide Sasikala, led to a furore in the Tamil Nadu Assembly today.

During the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address, Mr Appavu alleged the previous AIADMK Government had shown undue favour to the company by not fixing the procurement quantity for the Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL).

Objecting to this, Leader of the Opposition and former minister O Panneerselvam said the same guidelines as in 1998 for procurement of IMFL from liquor companies had been followed.

Quoting statistics, he said from Decemebr 29, 2003 to April 2006, 117.39 lakh cases were procured from Balaji Distelleries,106.23 lakh from Shiva Distilleries, 89.47 lakh from Midas, 85.88 lakh from Mohan Breweries, 68.20 lakh from South Indian Distilleries and 44.17 lakh cases from Empee Distilleries.

Mr Panneerselvam said Midas enjoyed only the third place in IMFL procurement by the government.

Disputing the contention, Higher Education Minister K Ponmudi demanded the quantity of IMFL procured from Midas during the last two years, especially in the last few months, be disclosed.

After Speaker R Avudiyappan pacified the members, Mr Appavu's remark that former Chief Minister Ms Jayalalithaa had made defamatory statements about judges in the House during her regime, triggered yet another round of heated exchanges between the ruling party and the Opposition.

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