NE NEWS SERVICE
PUDUCHERRY JULY 23
Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy on Thursday clarified that the free bread and milk breakfast scheme benefiting school children would continue to bear the name of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Stating this in the Assembly, he said there was a printing mistake in the copy of his address he delivered on July 20 during the territorial budget that the scheme had been renamed as Kalaignar Karunanidhi scheme.
He said the government has now introduced a new nutritious food scheme for the children which has been named after Karunanidhi while the breakfast scheme would retain the name of Rajiv Gandhi.
“The printing mistake is being rectified,” he said. Narayanasamy appealed to the three DMK legislators, absent during the proceedings today, to return to the House. The three – R Siva, Geetha Anandhan and K Venkatesan – obliged.
The members have been absent for the last two days in protest against alleged silence the Ministers were maintaining even as the opposition AIADMK has been criticising the Congress government here for renaming the breakfast scheme after Karunanidhi and not Rajiv Gandhi.
Narayanasamy further said members in the Assembly should not make critical remarks against any leader in the House. Protesting against this, AIADMK leader Anbalagan said none of the party legislators had made any comments on the DMK. He said they were only seeking clarification on the name of the food scheme. The four AIADMK members walked out of the House in protest against the Chief Minister’s allegation that the party has criticised the DMK while questioning the need for renaming the scheme.
