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MK Stalin and RN Ravi.
Credit: PTI File Photos
Chennai: Ruling DMK legislators will boycott the ‘At Home’ reception to be hosted by Governor R N Ravi on Thursday on the occasion of Independence Day following the decision of the alliance partners to do the same, though there was no clarity whether Chief Minister M K Stalin and his cabinet colleagues would attend the event.
“The DMK, as a party, won’t participate in the At Home reception of the Governor,” R S Bharathi, organising secretary, told reporters. However, he said Stalin would decide the stand of the government which he heads vis-à-vis the Governor’s tea party.
A top source in the government told DH that “as of now, the Chief Minister and his cabinet colleagues are scheduled to attend the reception, along with senior officers.” “We will have to wait till Thursday morning for a definitive decision,” the source added.
A DMK leader said on the condition of anonymity that the party MLAs and functionaries who received the invitation won’t attend the event.
The DMK’s decision comes a day after alliance partners, including Congress, on Tuesday decided to boycott the ‘At Home’ to be hosted by the governor in protest against his actions that they said go against the “principles of federalism and the Constitution.”
Though there has been no fresh confrontation between the Raj Bhavan and Fort St George, the seat of power of the Tamil Nadu government, the alliance partners said the “arrogant attitude” of the Governor doesn’t allow their “conscience” to attend the party.
State-run universities are the biggest casualty of the Governor-Government stalemate as the post of vice-chancellors is vacant in at least five universities.
The DMK government had in the past boycotted the Governor’s reception in April 2022 to protest his action of not sending the NEET bill to the President of India.