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Chennai: Days after Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi dismissed controversial Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) minister V. Senthil Balaji, only to stay his order on Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s advice, the state Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said a governor should not be talking politics.
At Villupuram during an event Wednesday, BJP chief K. Annamalai said the governor is not a politician to be talking about every problem of the state.
He was responding to a question on whether Ravi should interact more often with the media, like his Telangana counterpart, Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan.
The former IPS officer said, “Our stand is that the governor should not meet the press, because he should not talk politics. Though I am the state chief of the ruling party at the Centre, my opinion is that it would set a wrong precedent.”
“The governor has the right to criticise a government inside the assembly…reacting everyday will bring down the dignity of their post,” he added.
On 29 June, Ravi had removed Senthil Balaji as minister following his arrest in connection with an Enforcement Directorate (ED) probe in an alleged cash-for-jobs scam during his tenure as the transport minister in the then All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) government. However, Shah asked him to seek the opinion of the Attorney General on the issue.
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DMK vs governor
Senthil Balaji’s abrupt dismissal from the Cabinet put a spotlight on Tamil Nadu where the DMK-led government and Governor Ravi have been at loggerheads for a year and a half.
In November 2022, DMK and its allies had written to President Droupadi Murmu demanding the removal of the governor. In April this year, the state assembly passed a formal resolution urging the central government and the president to fix a time limit for “governors to give assent to bills passed by legislatures”.
The DMK has repeatedly accused the governor of “acting like a BJP agent”.
The BJP, which has mostly voiced its support for the governor, has chosen to reserve its comments on Balaji’s dismissal. On 30 June, Annamalai tweeted, “BJP Tamil Nadu, for now, reserves its comments on the dismissal of Cash for Job Scam Thiru Senthil Balaji from the council of ministers by the Hon Governor of TN.”
“However, we want to remind TN CM Thiru @mkstalin of his doublespeak. In 2018, the then-opposition leader demanded that a minister be sacked by the Hon Governor as there was a corruption allegation against him. What has changed between then & now? DMK’s drama wouldn’t change the fact that Thiru Senthil Balaji is an accused under arrest!,” he added.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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