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Opposition disrupts budget speech in TN over Sasikala praise

Jayakumar started his speech paying tributes to late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and went on to thank "honourable Chinnamma" (Sasikala).

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The Edappadi K Palaniswami-led AIADMK government presented its maiden budget in the Assembly on Thursday where in a reference in praise of jailed AIADMK General Secretary VK Sasikala invited strong protests from the opposition DMK. It also led to brief disruption of the budget presentation by Finance Minister D Jayakumar.

Jayakumar started his speech paying tributes to late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa and went on to thank "honourable Chinnamma" (Sasikala).

At this point, Leader of the Opposition MK Stalin sprang to his feet and questioned how the name of a person convicted by the court could be raised in the Assembly. He was supported by party MLAs who were seen making loud protests.

Speaker P Dhanapal then asked the Finance Minister to pause his budget speech for a while and allowed Stalin to speak. Opposing the mention of jailed Sasikala's name, Stalin wondered how the Speaker could allow the praise of a convicted person in the Assembly when he would not allow any mention of the sub-judice issue. The leader of the House and senior minister KA Sengottaiyan dismissed the Stalin's demand saying that there was nothing wrong in praising their party leader and said he could cite several such references made in the past.

Despite the DMK's demand to expunge the remark, Jayakumar continued his speech. He presented a tax-free budget for 2017-18 with a projected fiscal deficit of Rs 41,977 crore while candidly admitting it was prepared under severe resource constraints.

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