There is nothing wrong in Governor Banwarilal Purohit making visits to the districts and meeting the officials, said Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami in Salem on Sunday.
Mr. Palaniswami told reporters that in a democratic country, no one could prevent the Governor from visiting the districts.
When his attention was drawn to the allegations of the opposition parties that the Governor’s visits and his holding discussion with the officials were against the spirit of State autonomy, the Chief Minister said that the Governor’s visits to the districts were a constructive effort.
There was nothing wrong in the Governor visiting the districts to help implement development schemes, he said. On the arrest of DMK cadre of Namakkal district for organising black flag agitation against the Governor on Friday, Mr. Palaniswami said that the opposition parties had launched various agitations across the State and no case was registered anywhere. But in Namakkal, the DMK cadre avoided the point earmarked by the police and organised the agitation at another location leading to a law and order problem. As such, the police had no other alternative, but arrest them.
Asked about the Centre’s move to privatise the public sector undertaking Salem Steel Plant, Mr. Palaniswami said that he had already written letters to the Prime Minister and the Union Minister concerned opposing the move. The AIADMK MPs, on many occasions, had raised this issue urging the Centre to drop the move.
“The MPs will continue to speak against the proposal in Parliament,” he said.
