Chennai: Former DMK minister V Senthilbalaji on Saturday accused the TVK govt of turning the Assembly into a platform for political confrontation, alleging that ministers were evading questions from the opposition and resorting to provocative remarks instead of providing answers. He also dared the govt to file any number of cases against the opposition, saying it was prepared to face them legally.Referring to his exchange with electricity minister R Nirmalkumar over missing hard disks during the demand for grants for the department, Senthilbalaji said, “I asked how 38 hard disks were recovered when 18 were reported missing and where the remaining 20 came from. The minister did not answer. Instead, they resorted to diversionary tactics and provocative remarks. People are watching, and they will give them a fitting reply at an appropriate time.”Senthilbalaji also questioned the govt’s criticism of the previous DMK regime, citing figures from the recently released white paper on the power sector. The document, he said, recorded the replacement of 99,000 transformers and a reduction in the electricity department’s annual debt from Rs 14,500 crore in 2020-21 to Rs 933 crore in 2025-26. “The electricity minister has listed the achievements of the DMK govt in the white paper. But in the Assembly, he is trying to create an impression that nothing happened during the DMK regime,” he said.Meanwhile, speaking to reporters in Madurai, Nirmalkumar said legislators were being given ample time to raise issues in the Assembly, unlike in the past. Assembly sessions are now held until 7pm, instead of ending at 2pm as they did earlier, he said.
