Heated debate over placing of Budget at Jayalalithaa memorial

Amid noisy scenes, some remarks by Jayakumar which was strongly opposed by DMK legislators and counter view of Stalin were all expunged by Speaker P Dhanapal on the intervention of leader of the House KA Sengottaiyan. 

Stalin said placing the budget on the memorial of Jayalalithaa was against norms and taking it outside the Secretariat before it was tabled in the Assembly went against the tradition of the House. 

To this, Jayakumar said he had taken the budget briefcase to the memorial only to seek the blessings of his late leader. There would have been a breach of norms if the budget contents had got leaked, he said. Only in such a scenario, which did not happen, would there have been a violation of the oaths taken by him as a Minister and the Constitutional norms, he said. 

A remark Jayakumar made against former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam, who was present in the House, was opposed by followers of the rebel leader, including former Minister K Pandiarajan. 

Stalin maintained there was nothing wrong in seeking the late leader’s blessings, but asked if it was proper to take the document outside the House. He said he had urged Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao to act against the Minister. 

The argument and counter arguments started during the discussion on the 2017-18 Budget when DMK member Udayasuriyan made a reference to past Finance Ministers bringing budgets to the House. 

A verbal duel ensued when Jayakumar said DMK had not taken efforts to get Tamil Nadu its due share of tax revenue from the Centre when the party had been part of several regimes in New Delhi.