Chennai:
The Tamil Nadu Government today celebrated the diamond jubilee of the state Assembly in Chennai. Held at the historic Fort St George, President Pranab Mukherjee, the Chief Guest, dwelt at length on the disruptions in Parliament and called for a "collective thinking to avoid this."
Although the legislative assembly, then called as Madras Legislative Assembly was constituted as early as 1919, it came under the Government of India only in 1935. The celebration marks these 60 years. In his address Chief Minister Jayalalithaa recollected the evolution of the assembly from the days of the Madras Presidency. The occasion also brought to the house three veterans who were members of the very first assembly.
However the DMK skipped the function. On Thursday, DMK Chief M Karunanidhi had said "the celebration is organised without respecting others; there is no respect for DMK and hence the party will not attend the function." Although during his tenure Mr Karunanidhi had constructed a new assembly complex spending more than Rs 1000 crores, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa decided to dump it and announced that it would be converted into a multi-speciality hospital. The issue however is in the Madras High Court now.