CUDDALORE: Tamil Nadu Congress president and former MP KS Alagiri said that the Governors should respect the ruling State governments and act in coordination with them.
“The Governors must understand the public sentiment and respect the ruling governments of their respective States, acting in coordination with them. They shouldn't trespass on their powers mentioned in the law. If they impose additional power on State governments, they will face protests," Alagiri said, during his visit to Keerapalayam village in Cuddalore.
A Bill passed by the Assembly should be directly sent to the Centre. According to the Constitution, State Assemblies and the Parliament have higher power than Governors and hence, they shouldn't try to hold a Bill passed by the Assembly. Since the TN Governor crossed his limits, we are advising him, he added.
According to Alagiri, "The Chief Minister listens to others' opinions, which is good quality. Congress also has similar qualities. For example, during events, former Congress president Sonia Gandhi would stand up to welcome senior BJP leader LK Advani. But, the BJP doesn't have such qualities." As a Tamil, State BJP President K Annamalai should change his behaviour, he added.
“Our leaders have had great qualities since the time of Rajaji (C Rajagopalachari). They have worked for the State's development and respected the public sentiment. I agree with the CM’s statement that currently, we don’t have leaders like MGR,” Congress president said. Speaking about recent power issues in Tamil Nadu, Alagiri said, “It is true that the State is facing power issues; the CM and the Energy Department Ministry already mentioned the reasons for it.”
The leader added, “When Rahul Gandhi warned the Centre about the coal scarcity 15 days ago, Modi didn’t listen to him. Now the Centre is planning to make the States buy lignite directly from the other countries, which is not practical,” Alagiri said. He also spoke about the fuel prices hike and said, “Modi increased the tax for fuel prices in the last seven years, but is putting the blame on the State governments.”
“When he was PM, Dr Manmohan Singh ensured that the price of petrol and diesel would not increase. As an economist, he knew that it would directly result in a price hike of other things,” Alagiri said.