TN governor is playing politics, says opposition

Tamil Nadu Governor Vidyasagar Rao and the central government have ruled out intervening for now in the crisis in the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and asking Chief Minister K Palaniswamy to face a trial of strength in the state assembly.The stand was conveyed by the governor to a delegation of opposition parties from Tamil Nadu which met him at the Raj Bhawan in Chennai under the leadership of Viduthalai Chirutthaigal Katchi (VCK) and by Home Minister Rajnath Singh to a group of AIADMK leaders who met him in Delhi.Following the development, the opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and other parties in Tamil Nadu yesterday accused the governor of playing a “partisan” role and “passing the buck” by refusing to convene a meeting of the assembly for the AIADMK government to prove its majority.First, a delegation of four parties including Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) met the governor and demanded that he ask Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami to seek a vote of confidence in the assembly.VCK leader Thirumavalavan told reporters that the governor told them he cannot intervene in the situation now as the ball was not in his court because 19 AIADMK legislators who had expressed lack of confidence in the chief minister were still in the party.The issue was still within the domain of AIADMK, Rao told them.“We told him the ball was in his court. The governor said the ball has not come to his court. This reflects the position of the BJP at the Centre which is against the fall of the AIADMK government,” Thirumavalavan said.“We told the governor that the action of the 19 MLAs amounts to their losing confidence in the government and it was his democratic duty to ask for proving the government’s majority in the House,” he said.Meanwhile, a group of senior AIADMK leaders including Lok Sabha Deputy Speaker M Thambidurai and Tamil Nadu ministers D Jayakumar and Thangamani met Rajnath Singh and discussed the political situation in the state.Rajnath Singh is also believed to have told them that the issue was now within the ambit of “internal affairs” of the AIADMK and the governor had nothing to do with it.The DMK and other opposition parties instead should approach the speaker for any remedy, he reportedly said.Reacting to the reported remarks of the governor, DMK leader M K Stalin alleged that Rao was behind the coming together of the two factions of the AIADMK as he was acting at the behest of the Modi government which was using agencies like the Income Tax department and Enforcement Directorate to threaten AIADMK leaders.Stalin said the governor was playing politics.He said the governor should follow the precedent set by him earlier this year when he directed a floor test after former chief minister O Panneerselvam withdrew the support of 10 AIADMK MLAs to the government.Stalin said a delegation of MPs comprising DMK, Congress, CPM, CPI and Muslim League would be meeting President Ram Nath Kovind today to press their demand for an immediate floor test in the assembly.Echoing similar sentiments, V Pugazhendi from the faction led by sidelined party general secretary T T V Dinakaran said “terrified” AIADMK leaders were going around meeting union ministers to prevent a dismissal of the government.Dinakaran himself told reporters in Chennai he still believed that the governor would take a “good” decision on the demand of the 19 MLAs owing allegiance to him on the removal of the chief minister. He said he was giving time for Palaniswamy to step down on his own.The Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu strongly defended the role of the governor, saying the opposition parties were trying to politicise the issue.State BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan said in Coimbatore said the governor was a mature person and would go by what is law and Constitution and not what the opposition parties want.