Chennai: DMK, allies to boycott Governor Ravi’s Independence Day reception
Chennai: The clash between the Tamil Nadu government and Governor RN Ravi has intensified with Chief Minister MK Stalin and the DMK allies deciding to boycott the conventional Independence Day reception at the Governor’s resident on Friday evening in protest against the ‘anti-Tamil Nadu acts’ of the Governor.
Higher Education Minister K Ponmudy is expected to skip two university convocations to lay stress on the protest by the DMK, reports NDTV.
The DMK has raised strong objection to the Governor’s decision to refer to President Droupadi Murmu a bill passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly to establish Kalaignar University in honour of the late Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, with the party calling this a deliberate attempt to delay assent and undermine the legislative authority of the state.
The protest also comes in the backdrop of repeated clashes between the Tamil Nadu government and Governor Ravi with regarding to keeping bills passed by the Assembly pending for approval, leading the Supreme Court to step in and declare that several bills appeared to have been assented to. The apex court had also set a timeline of a maximum of three months for disposal of bills by the governor. In addition, the court ruled that neither governors nor the President had any discretionary powers.
The latest point of tussle, however, is the Independence Day address by Ravi, where he greatly praised the achievements of the Prime Minister and the Central government while barely mentioning the contributions of either the Tamil Nadu government or Stalin.
At the end of his speech, he referred to serious challenges in the state, including alleged educational and social discrimination against the poor, suicide rates double the national average, sharp rises in synthetic drug abuse among youth with "alleged patronage of the power-that-be," and a steep increase in sexual offences against women and children.
Tamil Nadu Local Administration Minister KN Nehru has accused the Governor of acting as an ‘agent of Nagpur’ and spreading baseless allegations without contributing anything to the Tamil language or the state’s welfare. Pointing out that a PhD student had refused to accept her degree from the Governor in protest just a day before, the minister opined Ravi’s statement to be a reaction due to frustration at being boycotted by DMK allies at the reception.
Nehru added that the Union Home Minister Amit Shah too would laugh at the Governor’s statement and stated that the Tamil Nadu citizens did not respect him as Governor since he functioned like a political adversary rather than as constitutional head.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
