AIAIADMK walkout "unjust", more time given to AIADMK: Speaker

Chennai, Apr 3 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker R Avudaiyappan today described as ''unjust'', the walkout staged by the main Opposition AIADMK on the ground that his party member was not given enough time to speak in the House.

Reading out a statement before adjourning the House for the day, he said as per the advise of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, more time was being given for the AIADMK members to speak in the House.

Reeling out statistics, he said AIADMK member R Viswanathan was allotted 20 minutes today to speak on the demand for grants for Energy department. But he spoke for 22 minutes.

He said during the six-day budget discussions, nine AIADMK members spoke for a total of four hours and 10 minutes, whereas only seven member spoke on behalf of the ruling DMK totalling two hours.

He said 11 Congress members spoke for three hours and 23 minutes, while seven from PMK spoke for a total of two hours 20 minutes, five each from CPI(M) and CPI (one hour 22 min and one hour 33 mnts, respectively), four from MDMK (45 mnts), two from DPI (20 mints), one from DMDK (20 mints) and one nominated member spoke for 11 minutes.

This clearly showed that AIADMK had been given more time to speak in the Assembly than the ruling party members. Despite this the AIADMK staged a walkout stating that enough time was not given to its party member, the Speaker said and described the walkout as unjust.

Earlier, replying to the demand for grants for his department, Electricity Minister Arcot N Veerasamy, said the AIADMK members staged a walkout not because they were not given enough time, but due to fear of getting exposed on the facts given by them during the debate.

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