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Senior Congress leader and former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has slammed the BJP-appointed governors saying they e “trampling upon democracy” by transgressing their powers.
P Chidambaram said in series of Tweets on Friday as he hit out at Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi’s remarks on his discretion to withhold bills passed by the state legislature.
Governor, Tamil Nadu has given a strange & peculiar definition to the withholding of assent to Bills passed by the Legislature
He has said that it means the ‘Bill is dead’
Actually, when a Governor withholds assent for no valid reason, it means ‘Parliamentary Democracy is dead’
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 7, 2023
During his interaction with civil service aspirants for the ‘Think to Dare’ series at the Raj Bhavan in Chennai on Thursday, Ravi commented on assembly bills forwarded to him for presidential assent and said that “the governor has three options: give assent, withhold – meaning the bill is dead – which the Supreme Court and Constitution uses as decent language to mean reject, and third, reserve the bill for the President”.
A Governor is bound to act on the aid and advice of the Chief Minister and the Council of Ministers
By transgressing their powers, BJP-appointed Governors are trampling upon democracy
— P. Chidambaram (@PChidambaram_IN) April 7, 2023
This is a governor’s discretion, Ravi had said.
