Only CM can decide who could be minister & who could not: Speaker Appavu

CHENNAI: Tamilnadu Assembly Speaker M Appavu came out strongly in support of the State Government and said that the Governor was duty bound to act on the advice of the state cabinet and it was the prerogative of the Chief Minister to decide who can and cannot be in his cabinet.

Talking to media persons, Appavu said, “It behoves the post he (Governor R N Ravi) holds to act in accordance with the aid and advice of the council of ministers. Only the Chief Minister can decide who could be the minister and who could not. It’s purely the prerogative of the CM.”

Clarifying that even when a member suffers disqualification upon being convicted for two years imprisonment or above by a court in a criminal case, it is only the Assembly Secretariat which disqualifies the member, the speaker said that the Tamil Nadu Assembly Secretariat disqualified J Jayalalithaa when she was convicted.

The Lok Sabha secretariat notified the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi when he was convicted for two years in a defamation case recently.

“The governor is duty bound to act on the aid and advice of the council of ministers,” he added.

“Personally, Our governor is a nice person, but a very emotional person. His emotional nature was evident when he stormed out of the State Assembly even without waiting for the national anthem to be sung even after his address,” Speaker M Appavu said.