New Delhi: The tussle between the Tamil Nadu government led by Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam head M.K. Stalin and the state’s governor, R.N. Ravi, has entered a new chapter with the latter initially turning down the former’s recommendation to allocate the portfolios of an arrested minister to other cabinet ministers and then later writing that he is not in favour of keeping him on the council of ministers owing to “moral turpitude”.On June 14, the Enforcement Directorate took Tamil Nadu minister for electricity, prohibition and excise, V. Senthil Balaji, into custody, after conducting searches at premises connected to him in Chennai and Karur cities a day ago. On the same day, Balaji went through a coronary angiogram after which doctors recommended an emergency bypass surgery.CM Stalin had meanwhile written to Governor Ravi, asking to allocate Balaji’s portfolios to finance minister Thangam Thennarasu and housing minister S. Muthusamy, The Hindu reported.In response, Ravi wrote to Stalin saying that the reason Stalin has cited for the reallocation of the portfolios was “misleading and incorrect”.A third paragraph in the release said, “However, the Hon’ble Governor has not agreed Thiru V. Senthilbalaji continuing any longer as the member of the council of ministers, as he is facing criminal proceedings for moral turpitude and is currently in judicial custody.”‘Governor is acting like the agent of the BJP government’Yesterday, June 15, the higher education minister of Stalin’s cabinet, K. Ponmudy held a press conference, in which he said that Stalin immediately wrote back to Ravi saying that the allocation of portfolios is the chief minister’s prerogative. The governor’s move to turn it down goes against the constitution and the principle of state autonomy.“The Governor, who ought to know the constitution, should have accepted the Chief Minister’s recommendation on the portfolio reallocation. But the Governor is acting like the agent of the BJP government at the Centre,” Ponmudy added, according to NDTV.“Was home minister Amit Shah who faced a case when he was a state minister, sacked?” he also asked.By the evening of June 16, the Raj Bhavan released a statement claiming that based on the recommendations of CM Stalin, Thangam Thennrasu has been handed over the electricity portfolio, while housing and urban development minister Muthusamy would get the prohibition and excise charges.Stalin’s videoStalin and DMK had earlier uploaded a 10-minute address by him in which he spoke of the Union government’s use of central agencies, citing the arrest of former finance minister Chidambaram, a Telangana minister and the Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel.“But their won’t be raids in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat because the noble BJP is in power there,” Stalin said.Don't annoy the #DMK cadres. We also know everything about politics. This is not a threat; rather, it is a warning!– Thiru. @mkstalin, DMK President (with English subtitles) pic.twitter.com/wyFzXz0fNi— DMK IT WING (@DMKITwing) June 15, 2023The history of the Stalin dispensation and Ravi’s run ins is a long one and has been interpreted as having been triggered by the Union government’s attempts to use the governor’s position and influence governance in the state.In April, Ravi had said that if a governor withholds assent to a Bill passed by the assembly, it means the “Bill is dead”.Relatedly, the Telangana government has filed a petition at the Supreme Court, which it has agreed to hear, seeking directions to Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan to clear as many as 10 pending bills.In January this year Ravi had replaced the state government’s emblem with that of the Union government’s in the Raj Bhavan’s official Pongal invitations and called himself the “Tamizhaga Aalunar” or “Tamizhagam governor” in the invitations to the Pongal Peruvizha festival.At that time controversy was already afoot over Ravi suggesting that the state be renamed from ‘Tamil Nadu’ to ‘Tamizhagam’ and skipping certain portions of the text of the governor’s address to the Tamil Nadu assembly.Several newspaper editorials had questioned the governor’s actions in their editorials.This article, first published at 11.40 am on June 16, was republished at 7.00 pm on the same day with fresh updates.
