A day after they protested against Prime Minister Narendra Modi by waving black flags and black balloons in the routes through which the latter traveled in Chennai city, the DMK-led Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu made a beeline to the Raj Bhavan ‘with a white flag’ to plead with the Governor to help them get an audience with Modi.
On Friday, leaders of various Opposition parties led by DMK working president MK Stalin went to Raj Bhavan and submitted a memorandum to Governor Banwarilal Purohit requesting him to help them get a meeting with the Prime Minister so that they could plead with him to constitute the Cauvery Management Board.
Interestingly, the DMK-led opposition parties are on a warpath with the Governor and wave black flags at him whenever he steps out of Raj Bhavan to visit the districts. They allege that the Governor was interfering in the State administration though the latter has clarified many times that he was just following up the progress of Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan as per the powers vested on him by the Constitution.
“There is no change in our stance against the Governor. We sought his help in getting an appointment with the Prime Minister because the State government is ineffective,” said Stalin while coming out of the Raj Bhavan after meeting the Governor.
Stalin preferred to ignore questions on what the DMK was doing during 2007 to 2014 to get the CMB constituted when it was an important constituent of the UPA dispensation at the Centre. Though the Cauvery Water Dispute Tribunal had in its 2007 verdict had ordered the constitution of the CMB, the then UPA government sat over it for seven years and the DMK did nothing to get the body constituted despite its clout with the Centre, points out Tamil Nadu’s leading political chroniclers..
The opposition had intensified the agitation against the Governor recently following the appointment of vice-chancellors in the Universities in the State. Most of the vice chancellors appointed by the previous DMK and current AIADMK governments are facing serious corruption charges. A Ganapathi, vice-chancellor of Bharatiyar University was suspended following his arrest by the sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption while taking Rs 29 lakh as bribe from a candidate for appointing him as a faculty in the university. Ganapathi has been served
P Vanangamudi, former vice-chancellor of Tamil Nadu Dr B R Ambedkar law University, who is under probe by the DVAC has succeeded in getting anticipatory bail in a case related to irregularities in admission to five-year llB courses under the NRI quota.
Ganapathi has been issued a notice by the Bharatiyar University asking him to vacate the official quarters of the Vice-Chancellor since he chose to ignore the messages sent to him earlier.