Refusal for floor test is an insult to democracy, Governor’s office: Stalin

Shortly after Rao told visiting Left and VCK leaders at Raj Bhavan that the issue was an “intra-party affair”, Stalin expressed shock at the statement and wondered if the Governor, who had ordered floor test when OPS, with 10 MLAs, asked for the same, was unaware that it was an intra-party affair?

Asserting that the Governor was, indeed, politicising the issue, Stalin reiterated that the BJP led Centre has intimidated the ruling dispensation in TN and made them fall in line with the use of I-T and Enforcement Directorate. Asked if he saw BJP intervention in the functioning of the State Governor, the DMK working president said, “Certainly. No doubt about that. You saw him (Rao) get OPS and EPS shake hands. It is not an insult to the office of the Governor and democracy.” Taking strong exception to the Governor’s reported “Ball is not in my court” statement, the Leader of Opposition asked why the same Governor, who had ordered the convention of the House when OPS asked for it, has not done it now? “DMK will use the ball in its court, if necessary, at the appropriate time,” said Stalin who has got all but BJP to rally against the AIADMK led by OPS and EPS.

DMK gets entire opposition to rally against AIADMK

DMK Parliamentarians would take their Left and IUML counterparts with them to petition President Ram Nath Kovind about the prevailing political situation in the state. “We are meeting the President in the hope that it would bear fruit. It is his (President’s) duty to function democratically. If he fails to do that, we would be faced with a situation where we would have to seek legal remedy,” said Stalin.

So keen was DMK in tagging along with the rest of the opposition that its party organ ‘Murasoli’ has even carried CPM mouthpiece Theekathir’s editorial on the prevailing political crisis in TN.

Apart from voicing against the ruling AIADMK, now the DMK-Congress combine has Left and VCK plus the soft-pedalling PMK and no holds barred Vijayakant to go on the offensive against the BJP, which has cornered AIADMK and saffron brigade in the state’s political map. Members of the ruling AIADMK have contributed to their own political isolation by playing the devil’s advocate for the BJP on sensitive issues affecting the state, most recently, NEET, in which the EPS regime and state BJP leaders have been caught napping.