DMK working president M.K. Stalin on Thursday condemned Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit’s review meetings in Tirunelveli and Kanniyakumari districts, saying they were at odds with the principles of State autonomy.
“The law does not give the rights or authority to appointed Governors to conduct review of Central or State schemes. The Governor’s act of conducting review on a constant basis implies that he is trying to acquire the powers of an elected government through [the] Raj Bhavan. Such an act also raises doubts whether the Governor has lost faith in democracy,” Mr. Stalin said in a statement.
“The Governor conducting review meetings in various districts raises doubts whether he understands his limits and whether he is acting as per the instructions of the BJP government [at the Centre],” Mr. Stalin said.
The Opposition leader alleged that the Governor had failed in his main duty of asking the ruling party to prove its majority in the House and questioned how, in such a scenario, could his act of conducting review meetings as if he were an elected Chief Minister be considered pro-people.
Mr. Stalin said the Governor should immediately call Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and ask him to prove his majority in the Assembly.
He accused Mr. Palaniswami of dancing to the tune of the Centre by not objecting to the actions of the Governor. He also alleged that the Governor’s review meeting in Kanniyakumari had come in the way of relief measures in the cyclone-hit district.
