Tamil Nadu: Chief Minister M K Stalin, his cabinet colleagues, allies of DMK on boycott governor's ‘at home’ reception

Chennai: In signs of escalating friction between the Raj Bhavan and the Tamil Nadu State Secretariat, Chief Minister M K Stalin, his Cabinet colleagues and the allies of the ruling DMK on Thursday boycotted the ‘At Home’ reception and a function hosted by Governor R N Ravi at the Raj Bhavan.

Industries Minister Thangam Thennarsu, who along with Health Minister Ma Subramanian called on the Governor earlier in the day, told journalists that Ravi has “forced us into this situation” [of boycotting] as he had not forwarded the NEET exemption Bill to the President of India for assent.

The ‘At Home’, usually held on Republic Day, was put off this year due to the COVID-19 spread then and was hosted on Thursday coinciding with the Tamil New Year. The Raj Bhavan had also sent out invitations for the inauguration of a statue of Tamil nationalist poet Bharathiar at the sprawling Governor’s office-cum-residence in Guindy in which the Chief Minister was slated to participate. However, Stalin stayed away from both events.

The Industries Minister said it was unfortunate the Governor had not considered the “collective sentiments of the people of Tamil Nadu”, the dreams of aspiring students from rural areas to pursue medical education and “the dignity of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly”. The boycott was to oppose the Governor’s failure to forward the NEET Bill to the President.

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Originally, Ravi had returned the Bill that seeks to admit students to undergraduate medical and dental courses sans NEET and on the basis of class XII marks, to the Speaker. Following this, the Assembly in a historic decision had re-enacted the Bill and re-sent it to the Governor, which is pending with him.

Thennarasu said, the Governor did not give “both of us any guarantee over the Bill or any time-frame for the same.” Many other legislations enacted by the Assembly were also pending with the Governor on which too Ravi did not give any commitment. “The Governor listened to us but he did not give us any guarantee,” he said.

Subsequently, the Governor unveiled Bharathiar’s statue and hosted a tea party which was attended by the opposition parties including the AIADMK, BJP and PMK.