Tasmac, water for delta crop to dominate session

Governor K Rosaiah will unveil an outline of the government’s policy document in his customary address at 11 am in the Assembly. The day’s proceedings would be wrapped up with the Governor’s address, following which the Assembly Secretariat would fix a later date to allow the House to discuss a motion of thanks to the Governor for his address. 

Already, there are enough indications from AIADMK and DMK camps to suspect that the confrontation between the treasury benches and Opposition would be a given in the incumbent Assembly in which the principal opposition party DMK has 89 MLAs (plus eight Congress MLAs), enough to at least take the decibel level to a new high inside the House, let alone cornering the government. 

Understandably, Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa had earlier said; “The AIADMK led by me will not strategise our functioning based on the numbers (read as strength) of the Opposition.” An equally belligerent Leader of Opposition (LoP) M K Stalin had also said that their voice would be ‘loudly’ heard (in the House). 

The initial bonhomie between Jayalalithaa and Stalin may not last very long if one were to go by Wednesday’s statement of DMK president M Karunanidhi who called Jayalalithaa’s memorandum to the Prime Minister on Tuesday as “old wine in new bottle”. He took exception to the same demands featuring in the previous two memoranda ayalalithaa had submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014 and 2015. 

Add the TASMAC shop closure order, which is yet to be given effect to, delay in lifting Mettur Stanley reservoir shutters for delta region irrigation and ensuing civic polls plus the all-important Governor’s address, the Opposition definitely would have enough ammunition to take on the ruling dispensation.