AIADMK, DMK play blame game over electricity in Assembly

Ruling AIADMK and its arch rival DMK were engaged in a war of words in Tamil Nadu assembly today over power situation with Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa accusing the Karuanidhi-led party of turning the power-surplus state into a deficit one and questioning its right to talk over the issue.
Soon after DMK member I Periyasamy began his speech on grants for electricity department, Electricity Minister Natham R Viswanathan interrupted to clarify certain facts, which were disputed by DMK members.
When Periyasamy said though DMK borrowed funds for power, it never hiked the tariff, Viswanathan replied it (hike) was done only because of the rising interest for the credit that was burdening the government.

Also, it was the state Electricity Regulatory Commission's decision to hike the power tariff and the government merely followed its order.
At one point, for every allegation Periyasamy made, the Minister sought to clarify. He corrected Periyasamy in saying that farmers were getting at least nine hours uninterrupted power supply for irrigation.
He said there was a difference between load shedding and power cuts and since June 1 this year if at all power supply was interrupted, it was only because of some administrative issues and not due to power shortage.

When Speaker P Dhanapal asked Periyasamy to sit down as his time was up, DMK members demanded that he be allowed to speak for some more time, prompting Jayalalithaa to intervene.

"I would like to correct that it was our leader (late Chief Minister) MGR who started the 'Single Light' scheme for huts.
Targeting the DMK, she said the party had "forfeited the right to talk about power cuts in Tamil Nadu. It was DMK, which introduced power cuts in Tamil Nadu. Otherwise, the state was a power surplus during my rule," she asserted.
Periyasamy continued to speak with the Speaker's permission, but had to stop about a minute later as party colleague Durai Murugan was disallowed from seeking a clarification.
Eventually, DMK members staged a walk out.