Jaya fails to turn up to wind up debate in TN Assembly

Chennai, May 30; In an anti-climax, former Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa today failed to turn up at the Tamil Nadu Assembly to wind up the debate on the Governor's address, even as she was recognised as Leader of the Opposition in the House.

After the en masse suspension of her party MLAs, Ms Jayalalithaa was unanimously elected as the AIADMK Legislature Party Leader by her MLAs at an emergency meeting yesterday, giving rise to speculation that she would come to the House today as the leader of the Oppositon, after a gap of 17 years.

It was widely expected that Ms Jayalalithaa, who had participated in the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor for his address on May 27 as a member, would return to the House today as leader of the opposition to wind up the debate, but she failed to turn up.

As the House adjourned for the day, Ms Jayalalithaa, in a strongly worded statement here said she did not come to the House in the absence of any indication from the Assembly secretariat, whether she would be allowed to wind up the debate or not.

She said she had received a letter from the Assembly secretariat, recognising her as leader of the opposition last night, 12 hours after her party MLAs gave a letter to the Speaker, intimating him about her election as leader of the legislature party, but there was no word from the secretariat, whether she would be allowed to wind up the debate, Ms Jayalalithaa said.

She was fully prepared to wind up of the debate, but in the absence of any communication from the Assembly secretariat, she had stayed back, she said and flayed the ruling DMK for passing the motion without leader of the opposition winding up the debate.

For the first time in the history of state legislature, a well established tradition was given a go by, she said. ''It is a black day in the Indian democracy and it amounted to murder of democracy,'' Ms Jayalalithaa charged.

Ms Jayalalithaa, who initially decided to stay away from the House in view of ''unsavoury incidents'' in 1989, changed her mind after the en masse suspension of her party MLAs for alleged unruly behaviour.

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UNI