TN Guv's action dangerous for democracy; Fadnavis must stop political cricket, says NCP

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The Nationalist Congress Party Friday slammed the Tamil Nadu governor and termed his order to dismiss a minister 'dangerous for democracy. The party also accused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of falsely claiming that their party chief Sharad Pawar had refused to call Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, PTI reported.

Earlier, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president Supriya Sule termed the governor's move "dictatorship".

Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Thursday issued an order dismissing minister V Senthil Balaji, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a cash-for-jobs scam, from the council of ministers, only to keep it in abeyance hours later amid mounting criticism.

NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said in a statement that a governor holds a constitutional post and he must function neutrally as the guardian of a state.

Lately, the governors appointed during this BJP-led government seem to have forgotten this, he said.

Another recent example of a governor who functioned beyond his constitutional responsibility was Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the ex-governor of Maharashtra, said NCP. Koshyari acted more like a representative of a political party and less like a constitutional head of a state, Crasto said.

"Our Constitution says a governor can only appoint or remove a minister on the advice of the Chief Minister of the state it heads, but R N Ravi disregarded this and took an unconstitutional decision which displayed a political leaning," Crasto said.

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Governors are answerable to the President and therefore, President Droupadi Murmu must send out a clear message to all governors to fulfil their constitutional duties and act neutrally as guardians of their states, he said.

Talking to reporters here earlier, Sule said that the governor acted as if he was the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) governor and not that of Tamil Nadu.

"This is dictatorship. Where are the Constitution and democracy?" Sule asked, adding that if such an incident can happen in Tamil Nadu, it can happen in other states as well.

Crasto also alleged that deputy CM Fadnavis had falsely claimed that their party president Sharad Pawar had refused to use Aurangabad's new name Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

He said Fadnavis has once again tried to create a controversy by misusing Pawar's name with reference to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

"Pawar Saheb has already taken his wicket by bowling a googly and now this no ball will be hit out of the park for a six," Crasto said.

If Fadnavis continues to play his "political cricket" in this manner, then the BJP will soon drop him from the team and make him sit in the dugout, he said.

NCP and BJP are engaged in a war over the formation of a short-lived government of Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra in 2019.

Fadnavis recently said Sharad Pawar had agreed to form a government with the BJP after the last Assembly polls, but later backed out.

Reacting to it, the NCP chief admitted his party was in touch with the BJP for government formation more than three years ago, but maintained "certain things were done" to expose the saffron outfit and show how far it can go to gain power.

Pawar said his father-in-law (Test player Sadu Shinde) was a googly bowler, and he himself (Pawar) was the chairman of the ICC. "So, without playing cricket, I knew where and when to bowl a googly," he said. (PTI)