Govt-Guv tussle to take Assembly floor

CHENNAI: Against the backdrop of the pendency of Bills passed by the Assembly and a war of words over Governor RN Ravi’s remark that the State can be called Tamizhagam instead of Tamil Nadu, attracting strong criticism from ruling and opposition camps, the year’s first Assembly session will commence on Monday with the Governor’s speech as per the tradition.

The brief session is likely to witness a repeat of the commotion in 1993-1994 during the Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK regime. Then Congress MLA Kovai Selvaraj and nine other party MLAs, who were touted as ‘Jaya Congress’, spoke against then Governor Chenna Reddy inside the Assembly for confronting the CM.

The DMK’s allies — Congress, VCK, and Left — would register their protest against the Governor for speaking against the sentiment of the people of the State and disrespecting the ultimate sacrifice of many for the Tamil cause. “It has been decided to register a strong protest against the Governor inside the Assembly for disrespecting the elected government. All our allies are on the same page. We will gather ahead of the session to take a collective decision about the nature of the protest,” a senior alliance leader told DT Next preferring anonymity.

VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan, on Sunday, slammed the Governor for creating an impression as if ‘Tamil Nadu’ was wrongly termed.

While leader of the DMK in Parliament TR Baalu dissuaded him from “acting like BJP state chief”, state CPM general secretary K Balakrishnan gave a call to forgo the Governor’s address. AIADMK spokesperson D Jayakumar too disapproved of the Governors’ remark..

Recollecting the 1993-1994 session, Kovai Selvaraj, who recently joined the DMK, said, “I spoke against Governor Chenna Reddy in the Assembly for acting against the elected government. Governor should aid the state, not the other way round.”