Governor of Tamil Nadu RN Ravi dismissed DMK minister V Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers on Thursday, June 29 with immediate effect, as reported by ANI.
“Minister V Senthil Balaji is facing serious criminal proceedings in a number of cases of corruption including taking cash for jobs and money laundering…Under these circumstances, Governor has dismissed him from the Council of Ministers with immediate effect,” Tamil Nadu Raj Bhavan issues press release
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin on Thursday extended support to the AAP in its fight against the Centre’s Delhi Ordinance on control of services in the national capital following a meeting with Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Chennai. A delegation led by Kejriwal that included Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann met Stalin and senior DMK leaders seeking their support.
Emerging from the meeting, Stalin described Kejriwal as a good friend and said, “The Modi-led BJP government is pressuring Delhi UT and the AAP government there, by using Lt Governor. If the BJP government brings an ordinance on Delhi, the DMK will strongly oppose it. We had a discussion about other leaders’ views and I appeal to all leaders to support Arvind Kejriwal.”
Due to his prior engagement on June 12, he appealed to his Delhi counterpart to fix the opposition unity meet accordingly.Thanking the DMK leader, Kejriwal told journalists that with every passing day, he was becoming more confident of being able to defeat the Bill in the Parliament.DMK will support AAP against the Bill
“He has assured us the DMK will stand by the elected government of the Aam Aadmi Party, the people of Delhi, and help us in defeating this Bill and vote against it,” he added. The AAP chief has sought appointments with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, but they were yet to respond. “I am very confident that Congress should support this and there is no reason why Congress will not support this, because the ordinance is undemocratic and against the federal structure,” Kejriwal said.
On May 19, the Union Government promulgated an ordinance designating the Lieutenant Governor as the administrator of Delhi, giving him the final say on the postings and transfer of all bureaucrats serving in the Delhi government.The ordinance seeks to amend the Government of National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi Act, 1991 negating the May 11 Supreme Court judgment that gave the Kejriwal government the power to make laws and wield control over bureaucrats deputed to the Delhi government.If all parties will come together, then we can defeat the Bill
“The ordinance will come (as Bill) in the monsoon session of the Parliament. In Lok Sabha, BJP has a complete majority but in Rajya Sabha, BJP has only 93 of 238 members. If all the non-BJP parties come together, we can defeat this Bill in Parliament,” Kejriwal said calling for its defeat. He said this is undemocratic and against the federal structure.According to him, this will be like a semifinal before the 2024 Lok Sabha election. “If this Bill is defeated in Rajya Sabha, a strong message will go across the country that the entire opposition has come together and may be in 2024 Modi is not going to come back,” he added
CHENNAI: The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Sunday urged the Centre to withdraw its decision to change the name of All India Radio – Akashvani and to restore the name All India Radio.
Writing to Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Singh Thakur, veteran DMK MP TR Baalu referred to media reports on Prasar Bharati’s direction to stop using the words ‘All India Radio’ and instead use the word ‘Akashvani’ and said the decision is not acceptable at all.
“The sudden decision of Prasar Bharati is unwarranted. You may be knowing that for decades together English broadcasts and Regional broadcasting stations have been using the name ‘Vaanoli’, the Tamil equivalent of ‘Akashvani’. Though Prasar Bharati claims now that this is an old decision and the All India Radio Stations have been just advised to implement it. This is not proper and is not acceptable at all, ” the DMK MP said in his letter.
“Already people in Tamil Nadu and elsewhere have started protesting the action of Prasar Bharati. Several political parties in Tamil Nadu have strongly condemned the move of Prasar Bharati to deny the rightful place of Tamil in All India Radio and impose Hindi in its place. On behalf of DMK also we sharply protest the decision of Prasar Bharati to jettison the popular name All India Radio. In the circumstances, I request you to kindly intervene in the matter and advise Prasar Bharati suitably so that the earlier practice is restored by it immediately, ” he added.
CHENNAI: Facing the onslaught of the opposition after the now repealed Factories Amendment Bill and Tasmac licence issues, the ruling DMK has announced a series of rallies trumpeting the achievements of its two-year tenure.
DMK general secretary Duraimurugan on Monday announced public meetings highlighting the achievements of the Dravidian Model government at union, city and area-levels in all 72 party districts for three days from the second anniversary of the government from May 7.
Chief Minister M K Stalin took oath as the State Chief Minister on that day in 2021.
The DMK general secretary has proposed to announce the venue and name of speakers at the meetings later. The ruling party has announced meetings to brag its achievements as the government faced several backlash from almost the entire political landscape of the state for adopting the Bill enabling flexing working hours in industries up to 12 hours and issue of temporary licence to hold liquor parties in non-commercial places.
The two moves created widespread unpopularity, drawing criticism even from the allies of the DMK. The DMK is understood to have announced the meetings to negate the recent unpopularity.
CHENNAI: The ruling DMK has vowed to work for the victory of the Congress among the Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA) parties in the May 10 Karnataka Assembly polls.
In an announcement, DMK general secretary Duraimurugan on Monday instructed the functionaries of the various units of the DMK in Karnataka to constitute election committees and work along with the alliance parties to ensure the resounding victory of the Secular Progressive Alliance in the election.
The DMK, however, did not specify if its leaders from Tamil Nadu would even hit the campaign trail in Karnataka which is seeing the high and mighty of both the BJP and Congress descend on the southern state to wrest control of one of the economically top-performing states in the south.
Unlike the opposition AIADMK, which initially fielded its candidates in a couple of seats and withdrew the same to avoid playing spoilsport for ally BJP there, the DMK was not content with directly participating in the polls. It has been reliably learnt that the ruling DMK has no plans to depute its bigwigs to the neighbouring state where ally Congress is in the driving seat at the moment.
Chennai (IANS) | Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK has appointed state BJP state president K.K. Annamalai has been sent a legal notice on his allegations in the ‘DMK Files’ on corruption charges against their leaders. They have demanded him to withdraw his remarks or pay a compensation of Rs 500 crore. DMK’s organization secretary R.S. Bharti has stated in the legal notice that the allegations made by the BJP state president are false and fabricated and deliberately leveled against the DMK leadership including Chief Minister MK Stalin.
Bharti also termed the allegations made by the BJP president in the video as fabricated and baseless and misinterpretation of facts. He said that the statements made by the BJP leader were baseless, reprehensible, malicious and defamatory and were made with an intention to tarnish the reputation of the DMK in the eyes of the public.
DMK also stated in the legal notice that Annamalai in his press conference which lasted for 1 hour 2 minutes and 15 seconds said that DMK has looted people’s money at an incomparable level and it is more than Robert Clive and such statements has been termed as prima facie defamatory and baseless.
It states that he wants the BJP leader to make an unconditional apology for his speech and allegations made on 14 April 2023 and video titled ‘DMK Files’ by publishing it in any national English newspaper and regional Tamil newspaper and also in regional TV channels. Ask for a public apology or pay Rs 500 crore as compensation.
–IANS