TN CM Stalin portrays Governor Ravi a 'villain' as defeat stares at DMK in 2024 Lok Sabha polls: BJP

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu BJP on Monday accused ruling DMK President and Chief Minister MK Stalin of portraying Governor R N Ravi as a "villain" to conceal his party's flaws and further establish himself.

Speaking to reporters, the saffron party's state unit chief K Annamalai said Stalin should introspect and pointed out that his letter against Ravi to President Droupadi Murmu merely blamed the Governor over "non-issues".

Though Tamil Nadu had several issues to be handled and the DMK had electoral assurances to fulfil, Stalin blamed the Governor, putting such issues aside, he said. The DMK dispensation was attempting to "protect" Minister V Senthil Balaji by retaining him in the Cabinet.

Be it deaths due to consumption of illicit liquor or "lack of safety" for women, there were several matters to be dealt with. "...why so many lies (in the letter), to entrench himself (Stalin), to hide his party's (DMK) wrongs.

How come showing Governor as a villain is acceptable in any manner?" Annamalai questioned. The letter had several contradictory points and its substance was contrary to the stand DMK took visa-vis the Governor while it was the main opposition party, the BJP leader opined.

While Stalin argued in his letter that the "dismissal" (withheld later) of Minister Senthil Balaji by Governor was flawed, he has not answered yet why he demanded in his capacity as Leader of Opposition (2016-21) the removal of a Minister in the previous AIADMK regime.

"Hence, nobody is going to take this letter seriously. We can sense Stalin's fear of defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls," the TN BJP chief said.

The letter against Ravi to Murmu reflected Stalin's "helplessness" as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to win the LS polls with people's blessings, Annamalai said, adding he did not see any truth in the CM's letter to the President.

Vice-president of Tamil Nadu BJP Narayanan Thirupathy dismissed the CM's letter as an "empty vessel" that made more noise.

"The Governor is doing his duty." On the accusation made by Stalin that Ravi instigated communal hatred, Annamalai said the Governor only made known his views on GU Pope's (1820-1908) translation of Tamil classic Tirukkural. Pope was an evangelist and Tamil scholar. (PTI)