Chennai, July 2: In order to gain maximum political mileage, the DMK, which is fast becoming a major player at the emerging opposition unity in the country against the BJP, is trying to play victim card by raking up issue of Governor R. N. Ravi dismissing Senthil Balaji, Minister without Portfolio in the Stalin cabinet.
The Governor has been on confrontation path with the DMK government after the said move, which was later withdrawn.
In a statement released by the state Raj Bhavan, the governor dwelled upon the case against Senthil Balaji who was under judicial custody.
Ravi’s action came as a bolt in the blue for the DMK government which immediately retorted with Chief Minister M. K. Stalin saying that the party would take legal action and move the Supreme Court.
However, hours after the Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan issued a press statement on the dismissal of Senthil Balaji, it issued another one stating that the decision to dismiss the minister was kept in abeyance.
There were reports that the reversal was due to the missive from Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Later, the Governor in a statement admitted that the Union Home minister has asked to take a legal opinion from the Advocate General and move ahead.
Sources in the DMK told IANS: “The party is initiating a campaign across the state against the Tamil Nadu Governor who is acting as the agent of the BJP and RSS and turning the Raj Bhavan into a political arena.”
“In the process, the DMK will tag the AIADMK as butchers of democracy as the principal opposition party is an ally of the BJP,” the sources said.
The DMK think tanks said: “All the bad deeds of the BJP will automatically befall on the AIADMK as that party was part and parcel of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Tamil Nadu”.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the DMK alliance won 38 of the 39 seats from Tamil Nadu and only Theni Lok Sabha seat was won by the AIADMK leader O. P. Raveendranath, son of former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam (OPS).
OPS was expelled from the AIADMK which is an added advantage for the DMK in the southern belt of the state.
A senior DMK leader on condition of anonymity told IANS: “The party is aiming to win all the 40 seats from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. The party is focusing on the Dravidian pride, and will highlight the action of the Tamil Nadu Governor against Senthil Balaji as a classic example of how the Central government is directly involving in breaking a democratically elected government which was against the Federal principles and rights of states as envisaged by the Constitution.”
Lakshmi R. Menon, former Professor of Political Science from a college in Madurai, told IANS: “The DMK has gained tremendously through this bad political move by the Tamil Nadu Governor. Though the Governor has retracted his order and Senthil Balaji continues in the council of ministers, DMK has won the first round. However the party will highlight the undue interference of the Governor in the affairs of a democratically elected state government and will try to garner sympathy among the public.”
She also said that the DMK will try to highlight this issue throughout the country and conduct political campaigns against the “one-upmanship” of the BJP and the Central government. (IANS)