Udhayanidhi Stalin accused the TVK government of making a compromise in the rights of the State by allowing the Governor to do the inspection.
Chennai: Acting Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar castigating government officials at Madurai for not cleaning up River Vaigai and issuing a warning of the Raj Bhavan’s intervention in the event of the river continuing to remain polluted evoked strong criticism from political leaders, including the State Minister for electricity C T R Nirmal Kumar and the Leader of the Opposition Udhayanidhi Stalin on Friday.
Speaking to the media at Madurai, Nirmal Kumar urged the officials not to cooperate with the Governor if he were to undertake an inspection without the permission of Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay.
Since the Governor was not empowered to undertake such activities, it was mysterious as to why he issued the threat of the Raj Bhavan taking up the work to clean up the river, he said.
Udhayanidhi Stalin accused the TVK government of making a compromise in the rights of the State by allowing the Governor to do the inspection. The reckless audacity exhibited by the Governor pointed to the incompetence of the ruling party, he said.
The DMK condemned Arlekar issuing an order in consultation with the Madurai District Collector and the police commission of Madurai as it amounted to interfering with the administration of the State government and was also against the Constitution, he said.
Regretting that Arlekar had forgotten that he had only been appointed to the gubernatorial post and that too with an ‘additional responsibility,’ Udhayanidhi Stalin said that he had conducted an inspection as though he was an elected representative of the people.
Recalling the DMK holding black flag protests when the then Governor conducted inspections during the AIADMK regime, he said that when the DMK was in power M K Stalin never allowed such digressions by the Governor.
He wanted the TVK government to take appropriate action against the Governor holding inspections that were not acceptable.
The BJP, however, defended Arlekar with the party’s chief spokesman, Narayanan Thirupathy condemning what he called ‘unwarranted and politically motivated criticism’ by Nirmal Kumar, urging him to focus on restoring River Vaigai.
Arlekar had rightly expressed shock at the pathetic condition of the river and urged the youth of Madurai to restore it, assuring Lok Bhavan’s support, he said.
