Governor RN Ravi should sit in BJP office: Tamil Nadu Minister
CHENNAI: In a detailed rejoinder to Governor RN Ravi, Industries minister Thangam Thenarasu said the governor is indulging in all activities, except his duties. The statement was issued on Thursday in response to the governor’s interview, in which he had flayed the DMK government and its ideology.
Thenarasu wondered why the governor was not asked whether he met businessmen running online gambling companies. “This one thing is enough to understand him,” said the minister. He also referred to the alleged suicide of over 40 people when the bill to ban online gambling was pending for months with the governor.
“If one reads the interview fully, he understands that he (Ravi) did not come to Tamil Nadu to be the governor, but as the head of the BJP. Someone who has to sit in Kamalalayam (BJP’s TN office) is sitting in Raj Bhavan and indulging in politics,” said Thenarasu.
The minister countered some of the specific points made by the governor in the interview. On Ravi’s statement that he altered the governor’s address because he did not agree with the contents, Thenarasu said governors have no discretionary powers in these aspects. “If he doesn’t wish to read the written address, he must get involved in some other job. He can’t spoil the honour of the Assembly,” the minister said.
On the accusations levelled by the governor in the law and order front, the minister listed out actions taken on each of the specific cases. He said Tamil Nadu is attracting investments because of the favourable conditions in the state.
The minister said the government’s concern has been that the governor is refusing to do the only job he is meant to do - giving approvals to the bills passed by the Assembly. “Is it not an attempt to stall administration?”
“He has given the wrong information that there is no bill pending with him. Later (in the interview) he contradicts himself saying he has withheld consent to eight bills. Only he has to explain the difference between ‘pending’ and ‘withheld’.”
The minister said a total of 17 bills are pending with the governor, including those passed in the recently-concluded Assembly session. Thenarasu said the governor did not respond to accusations made by finance minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan that the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan has spent funds in violation of the rules under the financial code.
Listing out three specific violations made by the finance minister, the minister said the governor has failed to give specific answers to the accusations made by the finance minister and instead has given a generic reply that they are false.