Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) claimed that the governor of Tamil Nadu's decision to fire a minister was harmful for democracy and accused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of falsely claiming that their party chief Sharad Pawar had refused to call Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
Earlier, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) working president Supriya Sule termed the governor’s move dictatorship. Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Thursday issued an order dismissing minister V Senthil Balaji, arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a cash-for-jobs scam, from the council of ministers, only to keep it in abeyance hours later amid mounting criticism.
NCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said in a statement that a governor holds a constitutional post and he must function neutrally as the guardian of a state. Lately, the governors appointed during this BJP-led government seem to have forgotten this, he said.
Another recent example of a governor who functioned beyond his constitutional responsibility was Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the ex-governor of Maharashtra, said NCP. Koshyari acted more like a representative of a political party and less like a constitutional head of a state, Crasto said.
Our Constitution says a governor can only appoint or remove a minister on the advice of the Chief Minister of the state it heads, but R N Ravi disregarded this and took an unconstitutional decision which displayed a political leaning, Crasto said.
Crasto also alleged that deputy CM Fadnavis had falsely claimed that their party president Sharad Pawar had refused to use Aurangabad’s new name Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
He said Fadnavis has once again tried to create a controversy by misusing Pawar’s name with reference to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Pawar Saheb has already taken his wicket by bowling a googly and now this no ball will be hit out of the park for a six, Crasto said.
If Fadnavis continues to play his political cricket in this manner, then the BJP will soon drop him from the team and make him sit in the dugout, he said.