Chennai, April 20 (BPNS)
The ruling DMK and its allies including Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) , Dravidar Kazhagam (DK), CPI, and CPI-M are to continue the boycott of Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi over him not forwarding the bill exempting the state from National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (NEET).
The bill which was passed unanimously by the Tamil Nadu assembly for a second time is pending with the Governor and the ruling party is sore that he has not forwarded the bill to the President of India.
Sources in the DMK told BPNS that while the party may not directly resort to tactics like black flag demonstrations against the Governor, it will continue boycotting the official functions of R.N. Ravi. Party leaders including ministers will not participate in any official function in which the Governor is part of.
Meanwhile the allies of the DMK like the VCK, DK, CPI and CPI-M will continue with the black flag demonstrations against the Governor which is creating a law and order issue in Tamil Nadu.
VCK founder leader and Member of Parliament ,Thol Thirumavalavan while speaking to BPNS said, “The Tamil Nadu Governor has to show respect to the legislative assembly. The bill seeking the state exemption from NEET was passed for a second time unanimously by the assembly and the Governor is holding it and not forwarding to the President of India. This is not fair and we are opposing this attitude of the Governor eventhough we don’t have anything personal against him.”
It may be noted that senior DMK leaders and ministers in the Stalin cabinet, K. Ponmudi and MRK Panneerselvam had boycotted Governor R.N. Ravi on Tuesday at a function held at Anna University.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M.K. Stalin had in the state legislative assembly said that the government had boycotted the ‘At Home’ reception held at Raj Bhavan to mark the Tamil New Year ‘Puthandu’ was not because of any personal enmity but due to the attitude of the Governor in not forwarding the bill scrapping NEET passed by the assembly to the President of India.
With the state unit of the BJP demanding Chief Minister Stalin to owe the responsibility over the black flag protests against the Governor, the confrontation between the DMK and BJP is likely to take place in the state. Even at Myladuthurai during the black flag demonstration by the VCK, DK and the left parties, BJP local leaders and cadres had turned up to welcome the Governor. The presence of a strong police contingent prevented any untoward incident at the place.
However the BJP seems to be taking the issue forward and the party Tamil Nadu state president, K. Annamalai in a statement called upon the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister to either apologise over the ‘untoward incident’ of black flag protests against the Governor at Myladuthurai or resign from the post.
The BJP leader also had written a letter to Union Home Minister, Amit Shah to bring in central forces for the security of the Governor using all means available within the constitutional limits.
In the letter, Annamalai said that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has been trying to intimidate the Governor for the past few days using contemptuous remarks for the delay in passage of NEET exemption bill.
BJP leader also said that if the Governor’s convoy was compromised then the plight of the people of Tamil Nadu was unimaginable.
With the DMK coming out against the Governor and boycotting event the official programmes, the BJP has come out in defense of the Governor and this could snowball into a major political fight between the DMK and the BJP. There are possibilities of law and order situation also getting affected if the war of words between the two turn into a street fight.
