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Amma is right, says Thambidurai, we weren't consulted on power ordinance

Union Law and Justice Minister M Thambidurai on Wednesday denied he had attended the Union Cabinet meeting which approved the recent power ordinance.

His clarification comes in the wake of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary J Jayalalitha's statement that the Bharatiya Janata Party had not consulted its coalition patners before going ahead with the ordinance, and Union Power Minister Rangarajan Kumaramangalam's reply the ordinance was discussed at a Cabinet meeting.

Replying to a question on whether he was aware of the ordinance, he said ordinances were referred to the law ministry as a matter of routine. The ministry was responsibile for examining the legal provisions and their constitutionality, but had no right to stall them.

Asked whether he was aware of the agenda of the Cabinet meeting wherein the ordinance was approved, he said certain confidential issues under consideration were not intimated to ministers in advance and would be known only on the eve of such meetings.

On whether the AIADMK would raise the issue at the BJP-led coalition's coordination committee meeting on May 8, he said it was for Jayalalitha to decide that.

UNI

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