Guv making unwanted politically motivated statements: Thennarasu

CHENNAI: State Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu on Tuesday slammed Governor R N Ravi for his veiled critique on Chief Minister M K Stalin's recent foreign tour and said that it was quite unfortunate that the Governor was making such "unwanted" and "politically motivated" comments about the functioning of the State government.

Talking to media persons at the Secretariat, Thangam Thennarasu said, "It is essential for any state government, especially the Chief Minister or the industries minister or any minister of the state government to undertake such visits to foreign countries or industrial houses in order to receive investment to the state. It has happened in the past and it will happen in the future. It is completely politically motivated and uncalled for on the part of the Governor to make such remarks."

Guv has fired barbs at PM; BJP must respond

Wondering if the Tamil Nadu chief minister was the only person to go on such investment-attracting tours, the minister referred to similar tours undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his stint as the chief minister of Gujarat and said, "Did he visit then because there was no conducive investment climate (in Gujarat) ? We consider that the Governor has fired barbs at the incumbent PM. We are wondering if he's referring to the tours undertaken by Modi as Gujarat CM. Only the BJP must respond to it."

Rs 2 lakh crore investment secured since regime change

Reacting to a specific query on the governor's comment on the investment conduciveness of the state in the meeting of Vice Chancellors, the minister said, "It is the most inappropriate comment he has made because the state has completely geared up and the state has received investment to the tune of Rs 2 lakh crore so far after the government under the able leadership of our chief minister took office. It is standing testimony for the ability of the government as well as the conducive environment for more industrial investments."

Explanation given when Guv violates Constitutional limits

On the frequent face off with the Governor, Thennarasu said, "It is not that we are hell bent on criticizing the Governor. Only when the Governor exceeds his Constitutional obligations or limits, when he makes some unwarranted and unnecessary comments about the functioning of the government, we are left with no option but to come up with some explanation."

Remarking that there was nothing constructive in his comments as it was far from the truth and politically motivated, the minister claimed that the government's relationship with the governor was very smooth and they are bestowing best respect on the Governor.

Bombarding statistics to rebut the governor's critique of the foreign tours, the minister said that between January 2022 and April 2023, about 108 firms have invested Rs 1.81 lakh crore and 1.94 lakh jobs were generated. Pointing out that that number of registered companies and jobs in the state increased from 4,79,213 firms and 36, 63,938 employees in 2021-22 fiscal to the 7,39,296 firms and 47,14,000 jobs in 2022-23 fiscal, the minister said that the Governor was trying to project as if there was a situation of the youths not getting jobs in the state, which is not correct.