Tamil Nadu: Governor’s delay in swearing-in Ponmudy triggers another confrontation with DMK

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi’s “delay” in acting on Chief Minister M K Stalin’s recommendation to induct senior party leader K Ponmudy into the Cabinet after he was restored as an MLA is set to escalate the tensions between the DMK dispensation and the Raj Bhavan which are already locked in a running battle over a host of issues. 

Ravi left for a three-day visit to New Delhi on Thursday morning and is scheduled to return to Chennai only on March 16, a day after Stalin wrote to him asking him to fix a time for the swearing-in of Ponmudy as a minister. The Chief Minister wrote to the Governor hours after Assembly Speaker M Appavu restored Ponmudy as a MLA from Thirukkoyilur constituency following the Supreme Court suspending his conviction and sentencing awarded by the Madras High Court in a disproportionate assets (DA) case. 

In the letter, Stalin wanted the Governor to administer the oath of office and secrecy to Ponmudy either on March 13 or March 14. However, the Governor, according to sources in Raj Bhavan, has sought opinion from legal experts on induction of Ponmudy, whose conviction under the Prevention of Corruption Act has been suspended, into the Cabinet. 

Even as the Government kept waiting for the Governor to respond to the Chief Minister’s official communication, Ravi continued with his Delhi visit. “The Governor has sought legal opinion. He is seized of the matter,” a source in the know told DH, adding that he doesn’t want to rush into the matter. 

The action by the Governor comes eight months after he unilaterally “dismissed” V Senthil Balaji from the Cabinet following his arrest in a money laundering case, only to put the decision in “abeyance” after the intervention of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Stalin had not just “disregarded” the Governor’s communication but told him that he has “no powers to dismiss my ministers”

The latest development is likely to intensify the tussle between the Raj Bhavan and Fort St. George, the seat of power of the Tamil Nadu government, just ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. 

“It is the sole prerogative of the Chief Minister to appoint ministers and he has recommended the induction of Ponmudy. The governor cannot delay the swearing-in beyond a point. But the point here is why should he consult legal experts when the court has suspended the conviction and sentencing?” a senior DMK leader asked. 

The Governor has been under attack from the DMK for indefinitely “sitting on” legislations passed by the Assembly and for his speeches on Sanathana Dharma and icons of Tamil literary and cultural icons. 

The DMK government knocked at the doors of the Supreme Court last year seeking to impose a timeline for the Governor to decide on bills sent to him. The Governor and the DMK dispensation clashed with each other on a slew of matters, most importantly in the functioning of state-funded universities.