Chennai: The newly-elected members on Monday took
the oath at the first session of the Tamil Nadu Assembly after
the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK came to power at Fort St George.
Chief Minister Jayalalithaa was the first to be
administered the oath by Protem Speaker CK Thamizharasan,
followed by members of her Cabinet and others.
Former chief minister and DMK chief M Karunanidhi, whose
party suffered a defeat, was not present as he flew to Delhi
this morning to meet his daughter Kanimozhi, who is in the
Tihar jail after being denied bail in the 2G spectrum scam
case.
The proceedings began with the House expressing its grief
over the death of Minister for Environment, Pollution Control
and Minorities Welfare, Mariam Pitchai, who was killed in a
road accident early today near Tiruchirappalli.
The Assembly chamber has been spruced up following the
AIADMK government's decision to hold the session at Fort
St George after shifting the Classical Tamil Library, whose
setting up was overseen by Karunanidhi as Chief Minister.
The DMK government had held the last session in the new
Assembly-Secretariat complex, a pet project of Karunanidhi,
whose estimates have touched around Rs 1,000 crore.
Jayalalithaa, who had earlier criticised the lack of
aesthetic appeal and the design of the new complex describing
it as a "circus tent", had said ahead of the session that the
decision to stick to the 17th century building was due to
administrative considerations and denied any political bias.
The election of Speaker and Deputy Speaker is scheduled
for May 27 and the Governor would address the Assembly on June
3.
PTI
First Published: Monday, May 23, 2011, 15:04