Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker Thambi Durai urges Sasikala to become TN CM

Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker and AIADMK leader M.Thambi Durai on Monday urged newly-appointed party General Secretary V.K. Sasikala to charge of the state government as Chief Minister.

In a statement issued here on his Deputy Speaker letterhead, he said: "The past history has shown that some governments had been pushed to several hurdles and were incapable of delivering its promises and that, such governments have lost their credibility among the people, when the leadership of the party and the leadership of the Government was in the hands of two different persons."

His use of Deputy Speaker letterhead attracted criticism from DMK and the BJP.

In his statement, Durai, who is also the AIADMK Propaganda Secretary, said people in India have not accepted the situation where the leadership of the party and that of the government are in two different hands, and believe that governments focussed attention on fulfilling its electoral promises only when both party and government are headed by a single person.

He said the unfinished tasks of the AIADMK and the government, as expected by late Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa will be completed only when the leadership of the party and the government are in the hands of one person.

Durai said the nation is going to face parliamentary polls in two years time and AIADMK has to function very effectively to get people's support.

O.Panneerselvam was sworn in as the Chief Minister following the death of Jayalalithaa, while her close aide Sasikala was subsequently elected as party General Secretary. She formally took charge on December 31.

Reacting to Durai's statement, DMK leader M.K. Stalin said the former should resign from his Deputy Speaker's post and issue statements relating to his party.

He also said the Governor should ask Panneerselvam to prove his majority in the assembly.

Union Minister for Urban Development M.Venkaiah Naidu said Durai could have avoided using the Deputy Speaker's letter pad.

--IANS

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