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Cabinet holds marathon session

— Photo: T. Singaravelou

AFTER A LONG TIME: Puducherry Cabinet meeting being held on Tuesday.

PUDUCHERRY: The Cabinet headed by Chief Minister N.Rangasamy held a marathon session on Tuesday against the immediate backdrop of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam calling for the dismissal of the Puducherry government and the main opposition party, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, seeking the Congress high command’s immediate intervention to re-rail the administration.

The Cabinet meeting, which began at 12.15 pm, went on till 6.45 pm. Official sources said it was unusual for the Cabinet to have its deliberations for such a long duration.

Even as Mr.Rangasamy was at his office in the Assembly complex, Health Minister E.Valsaraj, Education Minister M.O.H.F.Shahjahan, Tourism Minister Malladi Krishna Rao and Welfare Minister M.Kandasamy met at the chamber of Agriculture Minister V.Vaithilingam before proceeding to the Cabinet meeting.

The meeting acquired significance as the previous one held on March 10 to propose the schedule for the budget session of the Assembly had ended abruptly without arriving at a consensus.

Close on the heels of the previous meeting, the reported disharmony in the Cabinet came under sharp criticism by different political parties including the DMK, AIADMK, CPI, CPI (M) and the BJP.

The meeting was convened after the recent visit by the Chief Minister and the Ministers to New Delhi and the discussion they had with the Congress leaders.

The previous Lieutenant Governor Mukut Mithi had also advised the Chief Minister and the Ministers to bury their differences and work unitedly for the welfare of the people and development of the Union Territory. His successor Bhopinder Singh had called for steps to ensure completion of projects within the specified timeframe.

According to official sources, the Cabinet meeting was called now as time was running out to fix the date for the commencement of the budget session.

Apart from this, the Cabinet also had to fulfil the responsibility of finalising the points to be incorporated in the Lt. Governor’s Address. Another important task it had to accomplish related to department-wise allocations for different schemes under the budget for 2008-2009. This could be one of the reasons for the Cabinet having a longer session, they said.

Top officials, including the Chief Secretary to government and Secretaries of various departments, participated in the meeting.

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