Hours after sacking Senthil Balaji, Tamil Nadu Governor Ravi hits pause

Senthil Balaji sacked: In his second letter to Chief Minister Stalin, the Governor said that he had been advised by Union Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah that it would be prudent to seek the opinion of the Attorney General as well on the matter.

After his decision to dismiss minister Senthil Balaji from the Council of Ministers sparked a wave of protests from Chief Minister MK Stalin and several national parties, Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi retracted the decision in five hours. "I am conscious of the fact that under ordinary circumstances, a Governor acts on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers. However, I have been advised by the Hon'ble Union Minister of Home Affairs that it would be prudent to seek the opinion of the Attorney General as well," the Governor said in his second letter to Chief Minister Stalin.

Accordingly, his order dated 29th June 2023 bearing D.O. Letter No. 0013/RBTN/2023 has been put on hold.

Following the Governor's retraction, DMK leaders said that their stand that the dismissal was unconstitutional had been justified. Some DMK leaders are now calling for the sacking of the Governor.

DMK spokesperson Saravanan said, "Senthil Balaji's dismissal was unconstitutional; the pushback from across the country forced RN Ravi to put his decision on hold. Governor needs to be sacked."

Even the DMK's ally, the Congress party, echoed similar views. Congress MP Manish Tewari took to Twitter to say, "Rashtrapati Bhavan should sack Governor Tamil Nadu. No sane bureaucrat much less a sane lawyer could have advised Mr Ravi that the Constitutional scheme allows him to dismiss a Minister Criminal jurisprudence holds you are innocent until proven guilty."