Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit should instruct Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami to prove his majority on the floor of the House instead of holding review meetings with officials which would neither help the Centre-State relations nor smooth functioning of the administration, Opposition leader M.K. Stalin said on Wednesday.
Leading the Opposition’ charge in criticising the Governor’s review meeting with officials of the Coimbatore district on Tuesday, Stalin termed Purohit’s action as the next course of action of the BJP government to “snatch the rights of elected state governments”, while rebel leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran said the review only confirmed that there was no Jayalalithaa dispensation in Tamil Nadu.
As the meeting stoked a political controversy, Stalin and Dhinakaran – bitter political rivals – were on the same page when they saw the action as a “clear interference by the Union Government in state administration”.
“Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s review meeting with officials in Coimbatore is against the law and is the next course of action of the BJP government’s move to snatch rights of elected state governments. BJP’s plans to administer the state and the puppet government through the governor has come to the public domain through this action,” Stalin said in a statement.
The DMK working president also quoted India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and author of India’s Constitution B.R. Ambedkar who had said only the elected government is powerful and that the Governor would function only as a ceremonial figure. “The governor will only be an representative of the central government… The DMK has always believed that a governor’s post is like a goat’s beard, which is not required,” Stalin said.
In a series of tweets on his official Twitter page, Dhinakaran warned Tamil Nadu could be the next state to suffer due to “constant interference” from Governor after administration in union territories like Delhi and Puducherry have come to a standstill due to intervention by Lt Governors.
“Governor’s review meeting is a clear interference in the functioning of the state government. Everyone wants the anti-people Edappadi Palaniswami government to go and I can only see this development from that angle. The review meeting has reinforced once again that there was no Amma (Jayalalithaa) Government in the state. Amma would have never allowed such review meetings and the AIADMK has always stood for strengthening state autonomy,” Dhinakaran said.
Stalin also noted that a governor in Tamil Nadu does not have powers as that of a lieutenant governor in a union territory like Puducherry. “The Centre is hoping to rule Tamil Nadu through the governor as the present AIADMK government is weak,” he said.
