Palaniswami says his party did not boycott Governor’s address

AIADMK leader Palaniswami criticizes Governor's address, while opposition parties express dissatisfaction over lack of job creation and vacancies.

The AIADMK general secretary and Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Monday asserted that his party did not boycott the Governor’s [R.N. Ravi’s] address to the House.

“They [members of the ruling party] are functioning deliberately so as to prevent him [Mr. Ravi] from delivering his address,” Mr. Palaniswami told reporters on the campus of Fort St. George.

Asked about the reported insistence of the Governor that national anthem should be played ahead of the State anthem, Mr. Palaniswami said he did not see any change in the convention of the House.

He claimed for the first time in the history of the legislature, the Speaker [M. Appavu] had given his address. “This is not the Governor’s address.”

Mr. Palaniswami dismissed the address as one that did not offer anything new to people of the State. 

Separately, the ADMK Workers’ Rights’ Retrieval Committee Coordinator, O. Panneerselvam, found fault with the government for the address, which, he contended, did not pave the way for generation of jobs. Also, the address did not talk of filling vacancies in the government wherein over 3.5 lakh  posts were lying vacant. 

The Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) founder T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who expressed regret over the functioning of Mr. Ravi which “violated” conventions of the Assembly, said the address had only “reflected the narrow mindedness” of the DMK government.