Chennai: Leader of the Opposition launched a tirade against the DMK government alleging that democracy was being murdered in the Assembly with the Speaker refusing to allow him to speak on issues related to the people and the government indulging in large scale corruption that included the overcharging of Rs 10 per bottle at the TASMAC outlets that fetched Rs 5400 crore of slush money a year.When AIADMK member Natham Viswanathan faced a problem over the audio system and it created a flutter, the Speaker asked him to get close to the microphone and speak during the debate on the demands for grants for the departments of prohibition and electricity, Palaniswami rose to intervene and raise an issue.The speaker, M Appavu refused to allow him to speak on the issue relating to the 10 day raid at the offices of the Tamil Nadu State Marketing Corporation (TASMAC) that dealt with liquor sales and even expunged whatever he managed to utter in the meanwhile, prompting the AIADMK walkout.With Palaniswami protesting the Speaker’s decision and leading his party members out of the House, the media brigade caught up with him outside the Assembly hall when he said that apart from the Rs 100 crore corruption exposed by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that conducted the 10-day raid, TASMAC outlets were collected Rs 10 over and above the MRP for every bottle.Since TASMAC sold 1.5 crore bottles every day and overcharged the customers, they made Rs 5400 crore every year illegally, he said, adding that he wanted to bring to light the corruption charges levelled by the ED by raising the issue in the House but was bluntly refused permission because the DMK government was afraid of the ED.Accusing the DMK of taking the people for a ride through its manifesto, Palaniswami said that one of the promises that had not been fulfilled was on monthly billing for electricity. That the government had not implemented the monthly billing procedure in the last four years was a clear indicator of the Government’s failure to keep its promises, he said.Power cuts had increased in the State and the power traffic had been hiked by 72 per cent as the government was not only not concerned about the problem of the people but was not allowing the opposition to raise such issues in the House by deliberately snapping the connections to the audio system, he said.
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