TN govt to boycott 'At Home' reception at Raj Bhavan on I-Day

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Monday said the state government would boycott the customary, ‘At Home’ reception at Raj Bhavan hosted by the Governor, R.N. Ravi on the evening of Independence Day.

The boycott is over the alleged "confusion" created in higher education and Universities as also the refusal of the Governor to give assent to bills adopted by the state legislature. The controversial statement’s of the Tamil Nadu Governor is also cited as another reason of the state government to boycott the reception.

In a statement on Monday, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister charged that the Governor has been making unkind statements in public forums.

He said that the Governor has publicly said that left to him (Governor), he would never give assent to the Bill seeking exemption for Tamil Nadu from NEET for undergraduate medical admissions.

Stalin said, “The Governor refuses to understand that students and their parents from poor, downtrodden and the middle class are losing their dreams and opportunities.”

The Chief Minister also said that the statements of the Governor have come as a shock to the students and said that R.N. Ravi has made the irresponsible statement insulting the anti- NEET protests that have been going on in Tamil Nadu for several months.

Stalin said that "those who care for the welfare of Tamils would be shaken by Tamils losing their lives but the Governor’s action suggests he doesn’t care for it".

The Chief Minister also said that he would write a letter to the President on August 14 reiterating the request for her assent to the NEET exemption Bill re-adopted by the Tamil Nadu state Legislative Assembly.

He also said that the education of the youths of Tamil Nadu was important and added, “We are not someone who comes to the state this year and leaves next year. The DMK is the only party which raises its voice for the rights of the people of Tamil Nadu irrespective of whether it is in power or not.”

The Chief Minister said that his government would boycott the ‘At Home’ reception in the Raj Bhavan on Tuesday even as a ‘mark of his condemning the Governor’