Tamil Nadu Assembly session begins, Guv-govt tug of war touches new low

Chennai: The tussle between the ruling DMK and the Raj Bhavan hit a new low on Monday as Governor R N Ravi skipped portions of the government prepared customary address in the Assembly and Chief Minister M K Stalin piloted a resolution to exclude from the House records whatever he spoke outside the State drafted speech.

Following Ravi's address, Stalin expressed regret on the Governor avoiding certain portions from the prepared address. The Chief Minister moved a resolution and it was adopted and Ravi left the House immediately and such a thing has perhaps happened for the first time in the history of the Assembly.

'Dravidian model' were among the words skipped by the Governor and he also spoke on his own on certain aspects.

Ravi began his address, marking the commencement of the year's first session, amid slogan shouting against him by MLAs belonging to allies of the ruling DMK.

As soon as Ravi began his address in Tamil, greeting members on the New Year and the harvest festival 'Pongal,' legislators raised slogans including 'Tamil Nadu Vazhgave' (Long live Tamil Nadu) and 'Engal Nadu Tamil Nadu' (Our land is Tamil Nadu).

After a while the slogan shouting ceased. The Congress, CPI and CPI(M) are among the allies of the ruling party.

BJP MLA Vanathi Srinivasan alleged that the government did not get the Raj Bhavan's concurrence for the prepared speech to be read by the Governor and defended Ravi and hit out at the DMK regime.