Duraimurugan slams Guv Ravi for calling CM Stalin 'arrogant'
Duraimurugan reiterated that the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly had not broken any tradition
Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan; Governor RN Ravi
CHENNAI: The war of words between Governor RN Ravi and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government continued on Monday with State Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan calling the governor 'arrogant'. This comes after the Raj Bhavan described Chief Minister MK Stalin as arrogant after the latter had termed Ravi’s decision to walk out of the Assembly before delivering his customary address as a 'childish' act.
Stepping up the ruling party's onslaught against Ravi for refusing to deliver his speech in the State Assembly in protest of the rendering of the national anthem at the end, Duraimurugan reiterated that the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly had not broken any tradition.
"For a long time, it has been the custom to sing 'Tamil Thai Vaazhthu' at the start of the Assembly session and the national anthem when it ends. The Governor had an issue with this and called our Chief Minister arrogant. But in reality, he is the one who is arrogant," quipped the minister who is also Leader of the House. Duraimurugan made the comment while inaugurating a government exhibition in Vellore on Monday, said a Maalaimalar report.
On January 6, Ravi left the Assembly without delivering the customary address. The Raj Bhavan later said that the Governor had left 'in deep anguish' as the national anthem wasn't played. On the same day, chiding the Governor for choosing not to read the government address, Chief Minister MK Stalin had said it was childish of him to do so.
Reacting to the CM’s comments, Raj Bhavan, in a post on social media platform X on January 13, said that the Chief Minister has asserted that insisting on due respect to the national anthem and performing the fundamental duties enshrined in the constitution are “absurd” and “childish”. “Thanks for betraying the true intentions of the coalition of interests and ideologies to which he is a leader that does not accept and respect Bharat as a nation and her constitution. Such arrogance is not good,” the Raj Bhavan added.