Prez expresses inability to address TN Assembly on May 11

Chennai, Apr 18 (UNI) President A P J Kalam has expressed his inability to address the members of the Tamil Nadu Assembly on May 11 and offer felicitations to Chief Minister M Karunanidhi on the occasion of his golden jubilee in the Assembly.

Announcing this in the Assembly today, Speaker R Avudaiyappan said the President could not address the House as he was scheduled to go abroad.

Instead, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would address the House and offer felicitations on that day, he added.

The Speaker said the Business Advisory Committee (BAC), which met at his chamber, also decided to extend the session by a day to May 12, to take up the demand for grants scheduled for May 11.

The cancellation of President's visit comes in the wake of the opposition AIADMK, appealing to the President not to address the House and offer felicitations.

This was for the second time that the President could not visit the House. Earlier, when the then ruling AIADMK headed by J Jayalalithaa invited him to address the House, the then Opposition DMK had appealed to Dr Kalam not to accept it on the ground that there was no democracy in the House.

UNI