Jayalalithaa hits out at Stalin over his remarks on budget

CHENNAI: Hitting out at the DMK for boycotting her government's budget on Monday on the ground that she had made many important announcements ahead of it, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said she had only implemented proposals announced earlier.

She was responding to DMK Legislature Party Leader M K Stalin who had slammed her for making announcements prior to budget, saying she did so as she was not confident about the budget as they had to be mentioned in the exercise.

The DMK had boycotted the budget, drawing sharp criticism from the Chief Minister, who said it was customary of the opposition party to do so and that it had even boycotted the Governor's address earlier.

On various measures announced for the police department last week, which DMK had criticised, she said she had not come out with any new proposals and the decision to implement Rs 34 crore worth projects and procurement had been decided upon after a meeting with Superintendents of Police last year.

"The proposal to buy new patrol vehicles was made in last year's Home Department grants,"she said in the state Assembly. The same was the case with the proposal to set up a college at Bodinayakkanur, she added.

"Stalin made the allegations only to criticise the government. My government accords high priority to Assembly protocol and we will not violate and there is no need to do so," she said.

Stalin, who she recalled is a former Deputy Chief Minister, should clarify whether his allegations were a result of his 'ignorance' or an intention to criticise the government.