Ponnar, Anbumani score low on performance in Parliament

Two prominent faces – former BJP State president and Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan and former health minister and PMK youth wing leader Anbumani, in 16th Lok Sabha from Tamil Nadu are credited with poor track record in Parliament, according to a study conducted by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Interestingly, both Anbumani and Radhakrishnan are seeking re-election to the Lok Sabha this year from the same constituencies, Dharmapuri and Kanniyakumari respectively. The study said, the first session of Parliament was held from June 4 to 11 in 2014, soon after the NDA government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, assumed office.

Accordingly, the last session of Parliament was convened from December 11 to 20 in 2018. During the Modi regime, Parliament had a total of 312 sittings in 16 sessions.

As regards the Tamil Nadu MPs, the ADR study said Pon Radhakrishnan, who represented the Kanniyakumari segment, during the whole term did not ask a single question. Of the total 312 sittings, the Union Minister from Tamil Nadu attended just seven of them.

Similarly, the number of questions raised by former Union Health Minister Dr Anbumani Ramadoss, who was elected from Dharmapuri constituency, was a mere 51 compared to the highest number of 1,181 by Supriya Sule from Nationalist Congress Party, who was sent to the Lok Sabha from Baramathi in Maharashtra.

Anbumani attended 148 sessions compared to Kulamani Samal Jagat MP from Singhpur in Odisha, who attended all the 312 sittings.

However, a few AIADMK candidates, who are also contesting for the second time, managed to maintain a good track record in the Lok Sabha.

The ADR study revealed that AIADMK MP Dr Jayakumar Jayavardhan, the MP from Chennai South, tops the list of TN parliamentarians with the most number of questions – 811 during the 264 sittings he attended.

Another AIADMK member, Dr P Venugopal (Tiruvallur), raised 654 questions participated in 269 sittings. Following him was his party colleague from Kancheepuram K Maragatham, who asked 527 questions and was present in 256 sittings. Pollachi MP C Mahendran got the fourth place by raising 448 questions in 258 sessions.

Despite holding the post of Deputy Speaker, AIADMK MP Thambi Durai raised as many as 13 questions and attended 33 sittings.