Defending M K Stalin’s decision to attend the reception hosted by Governor R N Ravi on Republic Day, the ruling DMK on Saturday said the Chief Minister is a person who avoids confrontation and does not invite it willingly as his only focus is on good governance.
In an article, Murasoli, the DMK’s mouthpiece, said the general expectation was that the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues will boycott the reception hosted by the Governor, thereby casting a shadow on the functioning of the government.
The article also singled out Dinamalar, a Tamil daily with links to the right-wing, for “deliberately” blacking out Stalin’s picture in its coverage of the reception hosted by the Governor. While other newspapers chose to publish photographs that had Stalin and Ravi in the frame, Murasoli pointed out, Dinamalar alone published a picture of the Governor with one of the senior officers from the armed forces.
“The newspaper has blacked out the news that the Governor and Chief Minister exchanged greetings and sat next to each other through the event. What is the message that Dinamalar wants to send? That the confrontation between the Governor and the Chief Minister continues to play out?” the article asked.
DMK attended the event on Republic Day after the Governor, in a bid to break the ice after a massive confrontation in the Assembly on January 9, picked up the phone and invited Stalin for the reception, a senior leader told DH. “How long can we keep on fighting? Our leader believes the party and the government responded appropriately to the Governor’s action of deviating from the address approved by the Cabinet,” he said.
“The Chief Minister is a person who avoids confrontation, and not one who is interested in picking up a fight. The only thing that he is concerned about is administration and people’s welfare,” the Murasoli article said.
It also welcomed the Governor’s office reverting to the original version of printing invitations by addressing him as Tamil Nadu Aalunar (Governor) instead of Tamizhaga Aalunar for the Republic Day reception.
Stalin and his colleagues attended the reception even as DMK allies like Congress and VCK boycotted the event in protest against the governor sitting on several bulls, including the one banning online rummy. Another defence that the DMK gave for attending the reception was that the governor himself clarified his Tamizhagam remarks which created a massive row in the state.