DMK, allies petition President for 'sacking' Tamil Nadu governor, slam him for 'communal' remarks

New Delhi/Chennai, November 9

Stepping up pressure against Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi, the ruling DMK has urged President Droupadi Murmu to sack him, alleging that he had violated the oath he took under the Constitution and levelled a series of allegations against him.

Among others, the DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) took exception to his “praising Sanatana Dharma” and accused Ravi of “instigating communal hatred”.

The memorandum dated November 2 had been submitted with the President’s office, the DMK said on Tuesday.

The petition, signed by SPA members of Parliament, listed out the pending Bills with the Raj Bhavan, including one seeking exemption to the state from the ambit of the National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test (NEET) and questioned the delay for the assent.

Ravi and the MK Stalin-led government have been at loggerheads over a number of issues, including the NEET, and his recent remarks over the “delay” in handing over the probe into the October 23 car explosion to the National Investigation Agency by the state government has not gone down well with the ruling dispensation.

Instead of forwarding the NEET Bill to the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Ravi “usurped the powers of the President and questioned the wisdom of the legislature and returned the Bill, which is ultra vires of the powers conferred on a governor”, the memorandum said.