E-Paper
‘Stalin avoids rifts’: DMK on accepting Governor’s invite
After months of tussle, Republic Day celebrations brought chief minister M K Stalin and Governor R N Ravi together and they shared a camaraderie during the latter’s reception.
After months of tussle, Republic Day celebrations brought chief minister M K Stalin and Governor R N Ravi together and they shared a camaraderie during the latter’s reception. Though this change in behaviour is being questioned in some quarters, the DMK has sought to defend its president and chief minister’s decision. “The Governor personally dialled the chief minister and invited him. He also used the word ‘Tamil Nadu’ and sent a proper invite for the reception,” said a senior DMK leader.
The ruling DMK’s allies, such as the Congress and Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK), had boycotted the event too, marking their protest against the Governor. Stalin had boycotted the Governor’s ‘At Home’ reception last year over his delay in forwarding the anti-NEET Bill to the President. DMK’s mouthpiece Murasoli – which has often strongly criticised the Governor – in an article on Saturday explained that Stalin doesn’t invite confrontation. “The chief minister is a person who avoids rifts and does not look forward to one,” read the piece. “His only vision is to provide good governance and good work on a daily basis.”
This comes after a showdown between the chief minister and the Governor on January 9 in the assembly. While the Governor had gone against convention by deviating from the prepared speech, the chief minister had immediately prepared a resolution condemning him for omitting parts and adding his own. While Stalin was reading out the resolution, the Governor stormed out of the assembly. Then the DMK MPs made their way to Delhi seeking the Governor’s recall.
On the Republic Day, at the Raj Bhavan, the Governor and Stalin sat close to each other, sharing laughs and tea. “The chief minister likes to take the high road. That’s been his nature,” said a DMK leader close to him. “Even after the assembly incident, he told the party cadre not to make personal attacks against the Governor.”
A case in point is Stalin, as an MLA, had attended late J Jayalalithaa’s swearing-in in 2016 which his father and her rival M Karunanidhi had always kept away from. Even when Karunanidhi took exception that his son was seated at the back, Stalin didn’t seem to mind.
Since Ravi’s appointment as Governor in September 2021, he has been at loggerheads with the DMK, which formed the government in May 2021, over a range of issues. The most recent controversy was when the Governor replaced the state’s emblem with the national emblem in the invites sent out from the Raj Bhavan on Pongal. He suggested that Tamizhagam would be a more apt name for the state than Tamil Nadu which saw a huge backlash forcing the Governor to backtrack. The Governor has been sitting on 21 bills passed by the Tamil Nadu cabinet. DMK and its allies also accuse the Governor of peddling Hindutva.
