CHENNAI: Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, on Tuesday, thwarted the third attempt of the DMK’s to revive the Legislative Council in Tamil Nadu. As many as 200 members belonging to the AIADMK and its allies voted in favour of the resolution moved by the Chief Minister to annul the decision taken by the previous DMK regime. Only three members, belonging to the DMK’s ally PMK, voted against it.Referring to the request of CPI member S Gunasekaran that she take a concrete step to abolish the Legislative Council once and for all, as the DMK had consistently tried to revive it, Jayalalithaa said, “There is no possibility for the DMK to come to power again and revive the Legislative Council. The sun (DMK’s symbol) has set for ever. It will not rise again.”The resolution was adopted in the absence of DMK and Congress members who had earlier staged a walk-out protesting the State government’s decision to defer the introduction of the Uniform School Education system.Participating in the discussion on the resolution, the Chief Minister said that the previous DMK regime had adopted a resolution to revive the Upper House only to give posts to family members of then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and those who praised him.She said Karunanidhi’s son MK Stalin was made Deputy Chief Minister of the State, while his other son MK Alagiri and grand nephew Dayanidhi Maran were made Union ministers at the time. His daughter Kanimozhi had also been made a Rajya Sabha member.Jayalalithaa said the DMK government brought the resolution for the revival of the Legislative Council only in the fag end of its term and got the relevant Act passed in the Parliament using its clout in Delhi.The DMK has been interested in reviving the upper house, which was abolished by former Chief Minister and AIADMK founder MG Ramachandran in 1986, she said. Of 28 Indian states, only six — Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir — have two Houses of the State legislature, she said.Tracing its history, Jayalalithaa said it was only in 1919 that the creation of Upper Houses was proposed the British government. During a discussion on the creation of the Upper House, held in the Assembly Hall at Fort St George in 1932, a resolution to this effect was adopted: “It is resolved that in the conditions of this province, the Constitution of Second Chamber is unnecessary and undesirable.”Jayalalithaa also said all leaders who had progressive thoughts had said an Upper House was not necessary.
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