AIDWA threatens to lay siege to Raj Bhavan over Online Gambling Bill

CHENNAI: Members of All India Democratic Women's Association on Wednesday threatened to launch a protest to lay siege to Raj Bhavan if their petitions comprising of signatures of more than a lakh people seeking the Governor's approval for the Bill banning online gambling was not recieved by the office of TN Governor.

On Wednesday, CPM's women's wing members gathered near Saidapet court to proceed towards Raj Bhavan to hand over the petition to Governor, but were stopped by the police who asked them to give it to the revenue division officer.

"Will the Governor who did not give respect to the chief minister and State Assembly will respect the government official. If we want to give the petition to the RDO, shouldn't we given it in the districts?" they argued.

AIDWA state general secretary R Radhika asked the police to arrange for handing over the petition to the Governor or his officials. "We have sent emails and registered posts seeking appointments to handover the petition reflecting the sentiment of the state people over the online game issue. But we did not get any response," she told reporters. She added that more and more youngsters are getting addicted to online gambling and deaths related to such gambling have become routine but the Governor was not worried about it.

"If the Governor or his officials did not receive the petition in a specified time period, we will lay siege to Raj Bhavan," she said.