The Hindu : Front Page : He rules the House with an iron hand

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Saturday, Oct 01, 2005

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He rules the House with an iron hand

V. Jayanth

MLAs from both sides consider Speaker K. Kalimuthu the "real hero of this Assembly"

K. Kalimuthu

CHENNAI: Many legislators believe that the weeklong monsoon session that ended on Thursday may be the penultimate session of this Assembly. Another brief session in February-March to pass a Vote-on-account is all they expect before its tenure draws to a close and the next elections are held by May 2006. Apart from the dominating role of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, MLAs from both sides are convinced that the "real hero of this Assembly" is Speaker K. Kalimuthu.

Though the Opposition parties forever complain about his putting them in place and "denying us a fair chance to counter the charges levelled against our leaders in the House," they grudgingly concede that but for him, there could have been major problems in running the Assembly.

Ruling All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam sources confide: "Dr. Kalimuthu would have preferred to be in the Cabinet. But one of the first decisions that our leader took after the 2001 election was to make him the Speaker of the Assembly. On hindsight, we think he was the ideal choice. Though we enjoy a comfortable majority in the House, it is doubtful if anybody else would have been able to maintain such a tight control over the proceedings... Though the Opposition legislators do not grudge the Speaker his due as a senior politician, they do not mince words when it comes to the way "he has dealt with us in the past four-and-a-half years." On the last day of this session too, most leaders charged the Speaker with quietly rejecting their notice of breach of privilege against Ministers, while suo motu referring the motion against DMK president M. Karunanidhi to the privileges committee the previous day. But Mr. Kalimuthu is not one to be ruffled.

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