TN Assembly session begins today, Governor to address

Chennai, Jan 6
The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly will commence its session on Monday. The duration of the session, however, will be decided by the Business Advisory Committee, which is likely to meet later in the day.

Governor R.N. Ravi, whose customary address to the Assembly over the past two years has witnessed unprecedented scenes, will be addressing the session.

The Governor was invited by Assembly Speaker M. Appavu, who called on him on Friday. This session will also mark the first meeting between the Governor and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin since their spat over the rendition of the Tamizh Thai Vaazhthu two months ago.

The recent sexual assault case of a second-year engineering student on the Anna University campus is likely to be taken up by the opposition --AIADMK and BJP -- during the session.

Additionally, the DMK ally CPI(M)’s outbursts against the state police for denying permission to stage protests are also expected to be a topic of discussion.

Another ally of the DMK, Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), has been in the news following a statement by its former Deputy General Secretary, Aadhav Arjun, suggesting that the DMK should accommodate alliance partners in the cabinet.

This has led to a major controversy within the party. VCK founder and Member of Parliament Thol Thirumavalavan denied Aadhav Arjun’s statement and suspended him from the party for six months.

Subsequently, Aadhav Arjun resigned from the party. The opposition AIADMK and BJP have already raised this issue and are expected to bring it up during the session.

The falling law and order situation in the state and alleged encounter killings by the Greater Chennai Police will also be raised.

It may be recalled that after the broad daylight murder of Tamil Nadu BSP president K. Armstrong on July 5, the police reportedly killed three history sheeters in alleged encounters.

The opposition has accused the state police of failing to maintain law and order and announced that they will address this in the Assembly.

The frequent accidents in Tamil Nadu’s firecracker industry, particularly in Virudhunagar, are expected to be discussed. A blast at a firecracker factory in Sattur, Virudhunagar, recently claimed six lives and injured around 30 people.

Chief Minister M.K. Stalin inspected several firecracker factories during his outreach programme in Virudhunagar district and directed management to take extra precautions. It is worth noting that the annual turnover of the state’s firecracker industry is Rs 6,000 crore.