Chennai, Aug 21:
A sharp exchange took place in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Friday over the government’s proposal to provide cars to MLAs, with Opposition Leader Udhayanidhi Stalin saying DMK’s 59 MLAs did not want the vehicles amid the State’s financial constraints.
Responding, Minister Aadhav Arjuna said cars for MLAs should not be viewed as a luxury and argued that financially weaker legislators needed government vehicles to meet constituents and carry out their duties.
“Even if I have four cars, officials show respect only when I travel in a government car,” Aadhav Arjuna quoted the Mannargudi MLA as saying.
He also questioned why Udhayanidhi continued to occupy a government bungalow despite having three houses, while stressing that any decision to provide cars would apply uniformly and could not be restricted to particular parties.
DMK MLA K.N. Nehru said the party had only stated that its MLAs did not want cars and questioned why the government was responding to the demand in a contentious manner.
Former Minister E.V. Velu defended Udhayanidhi’s government accommodation, saying providing a bungalow to the Opposition Leader was part of protocol and that DMK MLAs had merely declined the proposed cars.
Minister Shahjahan pointed out that more than 300 union chairpersons were provided cars during the earlier DMK government, arguing that the practice was not new.
PMK MLA Ganesh Kumar, meanwhile, supported providing cars to economically disadvantaged MLAs, saying the facility could be necessary for them to discharge their responsibilities.