Chennai: The State Assembly session, starting on June 20, would go on till June 29, the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) that met on Wednesday decided, while AIADMK leader S P Velumani objected to the schedule and wanted the session to be continued after the Vikravandi by-elections.
Speaker M Appavu said the BAC was attended by top leaders of ruling DMK and also the opposition like Duraimurugan, K Ponmudi, Velumani and R B Udhayakumar. The opening day would be dedicated for obituary references and passing a resolution on the passing away of sitting MLA IN Pugezhenthi from Vikravandi.
The discussions on the demands for grants for various departments would start on Friday, June 21. The cut motions for the demands of grants to be taken up on June 21 and 22 should be presented before 3 pm on June 18, the Speaker said.
For the cut motions on the rest of the demands for grants the deadline for presenting them is 3 pm on June 20 and the forms would be available in the Assembly Secretariat.
The morning sessions would begin at 10 am and the evening sessions at 5 pm, the tentative schedule drawn by the BAC said. The House would meet on Saturday, June 22, and only June 23, Sunday is a holiday.
Velumani said that since the House would have time to debate only on eight days during the nine day period between June 20 and 29, it should be resumed after the by-election. He said members should be allowed to raise issues and not be stopped as earlier. The address of the Leader of the Opposition should be telecast in full, he said.
Tharahai Cuthbert, the newly elected Congress member from Vilavancode in Kanyakumari district, took oath at the office of the Speaker at 10.25 am on Wednesday. The by-election, held along with the Lok Sabha polls on April 19, was caused by the resignation of three-time Congress MLA Vijayadharani, who switched over to the BJP,
