1. New Parliament building inauguration | Parties talking about President’s eminence spoke ill of her before her election: Nirmala Sitharaman
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who addressed journalists at Raj Bhavan in Chennai said the Opposition parties, now speaking of President Droupadi Murmu as an eminent leader from a tribal community, had ran a bitter campaign against her before she got elected as the President.
Responding to the criticism from a section of the Opposition parties that the Union government had “disrespected” the President by not having her inaugurate the new Parliament building, she said these parties did not just run an election campaign against her, but spoke ill of her, “abused her,” and said she was going to be a “rubber stamp”.
These parties said Ms. Murmu represented “evil forces” and not anything the country needed, she added. “Not one in that group said anything to honour her at that time. Today, suddenly they feel that we have to recognise...,” the Union Minister said.
2. Amul Vs. Aavin row | Stalin writes to Amit Shah
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, in his letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, sought his intervention to direct Amul to desist from milk procurement from the milk shed area of Aavin in Tamil Nadu with immediate effect.
Pointing out a newspaper report stating that Amul, which was just selling their products through their outlets in the State, was to commence milk procurement in Tamil Nadu, the CM contended that Amul’s move would create “unhealthy competition”.
Mr. Stalin argued: “Such cross-procurement goes against the spirit of ‘Operation White Flood’ and will exacerbate problems for the consumers given the prevailing milk shortage scenario in the country. “
3. Anna University reverses its decision to suspend Tamil BE courses
Hours after its circular to constituent colleges went viral, the Anna University has reversed its decision to suspend the civil and mechanical engineering programmes in Tamil medium in its 11 constituent colleges following objections. Vice-Chancellor R. Velraj said the decision had been withdrawn following the Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy’s advice.
A circular, dated May 20, sent to constituent colleges to shut down the Tamil programmes in BE Civil and BE Mechanical from 2023-24 drew flak with certain sections alleging the State language, was being neglected.
The VC added that the University was yet to decide on admission to English programmes in Civil and Mechanical Engineering in six of its constituent colleges as the demand for admission was low.
4. Minister Senthilbalaji files defamation complaint against Puthiya Tamilagam leader Krishnasamy
Minister for Electricity, Prohibition and Excise, V. Senthilbalaji, filed a defamation complaint against K. Krishnasamy, president of Puthiya Tamilagam, before the XIVth Metropolitan Magistrate, Egmore for making defamatory speeches and tweets against him.
Mr. Senthilbalaji submitted that on May 10, Mr. Krishnasamy had posted a copy of the representation allegedly given by him to the Governor of Tamil Nadu on his party’s website and further posted a tweet on his Twitter page alleging corruption to the tune of ₹1 lakh crore through Tasmac. The Minister contended that the allegation was false, baseless and concocted.
Published - May 25, 2023 06:40 pm IST
