Chennai: TVK’s allies Congress and CPI stepped up their attack on Tamil Nadu governor R V Arlekar, a day after DMK, AIADMK and BJP submitted complaints against the TVK govt to him.TNCC president Manickam Tagore said the attitude of the governor had changed after he met Union home minister Amit Shah in New Delhi last week. Manickam Tagore said `identical’ complaints submitted to the governor by DMK, AIADMK and BJP against the TVK govt has raised doubts.Tagore who held a meeting with TNCC functionaries at party headquarters in Chennai told reporters that though Arlekar was governor of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, he was adopting a different approach for TN alone. Flaying the governor for inviting people to register their grievances in Lok Bhavan, Tagore asked why the governor, has not solicited complaints from Kerala. “ He is governor for two states but he has not made the same announcement in Kerala. Why didn’t he make a similar statement in Kerala? What is the agenda behind this statement?” Tagore asked.The opposition comes days after the governor met senior district officers in Madurai recently. He had also said Lok Bhavan would step in to clean Vaigai if adequate measures were not taken. The remark and his meeting, which was described by the officials as a courtesy call’ invited sharp response from the TVK govt. Later, at a book release event, Arlekar invited people to Lok Bhavan to register their grievance and assured that he will do his best to solve them.The TNCC president said the attitude of the governor changed after meeting Amit Shah recently. “Amit Shah’s intention is to dissolve the democratic govts and to form puppet govts. There are doubts whether the governor has taken the first step towards fulfilling Amit Shah’s intentions,” Tagore said.CPI state secretary M Veerapandian alleged the governor was attempting to run a “parallel govt” in Tamil Nadu. He said governor’s invitation to people to approach Lok Bhavan directly with their grievances was n encroachment on the powers of the elected state govt.“The governor’s remarks asking people to bring their grievances and social issues directly to him, amounted to a public declaration of running a parallel administration. The move was a direct interference in the state’s governance and an abuse of the governor’s constitutional authority,” Veerapandian said.CPI urged chief minister C Joseph Vijay to initiate immediate legal and political action to prevent such “overreach”. Veerapandian also appealed to President Droupadi Murmu to intervene and restrain the governor from acting beyond the powers vested in the office under the Constitution.
