Wednesday, April 13 2005 17:15 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Chennai: After a marathon 35-day sitting, the Tamil Nadu Assembly adjourned sine die today (Apr 13, 2005) afternoon, not before a walkout by most of the Opposition parties, over passing of a bill.

The leader of the house and Finance Minister, C Ponnaiyan, moved a motion, recommending the sine die adjournment.

The Assembly began on Jan.31 with the Governor's address and adjourned on Feb 7. The House met again on March 2, for presentation of a tax-free budget for the year 2005-06 and continued till this day. The number of days it sat worked out to 35 days.

Before adjourning the house, the Speaker, K Kalimuthu, in an emotional speech, thanked the Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, for adopting a resolution requesting the Centre to declare Tamil treatise, 'Thirukural', as a national literature, and for making various announcements under Rule 110, benefiting various strata of the society.

'If not tomorrow, one day Jayalalithaa will emerge as the Prime Minister of the country,' he said, amidst thumping of desks by the treasury benches.

The walkout by the Opposition parties was to protest the Government's decision to hold Chennai Corporation council meetings once in three months instead of once a month now.