'TN Guv's action dangerous for democracy; Fadnavis must stop political cricket'

The Nationalist Congress Party Friday slammed the Tamil Nadu governor and termed his order to dismiss a minister dangerous for democracy The party alsoaccused Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis of falsely claiming that their party chief Sharad Pawar had refused to call Aurangabad as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar PTI reportedEarlier Nationalist Congress Party NCP working president Supriya Sule termed the governors move ldquodictatorshiprdquoTamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Thursday issued an order dismissing minister V Senthil Balaji arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a cashforjobs scam from the council of ministers only to keep it in abeyance hours later amid mounting criticismNCP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said in a statement that a governor holds a constitutional post and he must function neutrally as the guardian of a stateLately the governors appointed during this BJPled government seem to have forgotten this he saidAnother recent example of a governor who functioned beyond his constitutional responsibility was Bhagat Singh Koshyari the exgovernor of Maharashtra said NCP Koshyari acted more like a representative of a political party and less like a constitutional head of a state Crasto saidOur Constitution says a governor can only appoint or remove a minister on the advice of the Chief Minister of the state it heads but R N Ravi disregarded this and took an unconstitutional decision which displayed a political leaningrdquo Crasto saidAlso readDismiss Manipur govt to end violence says Maha Congress submits memorandum to Guv for PresidentGovernors are answerable to the President and therefore President Droupadi Murmu must send out a clear message to all governors to fulfil their constitutional duties and act neutrally as guardians of their states he saidTalking to reporters here earlier Sule said that the governor acted as if he was the Bharatiya Janata Partys BJP governor and not that of Tamil NaduldquoThis is dictatorship Where are the Constitution and democracyrdquo Sule asked adding that if such an incident can happen in Tamil Nadu it can happen in other states as wellCrasto also alleged that deputy CM Fadnavis had falsely claimed that their party president Sharad Pawar had refused to use Aurangabads new name Chhatrapati SambhajinagarHe said Fadnavis has once again tried to create a controversy by misusing Pawars name with reference to Chhatrapati SambhajinagarldquoPawar Saheb has already taken his wicket by bowling a googly and now this no ball will be hit out of the park for a sixrdquo Crasto saidIf Fadnavis continues to play his ldquopolitical cricketrdquo in this manner then the BJP will soon drop him from the team and make him sit in the dugout he saidNCP and BJP are engaged in a war over the formation of a shortlived government of Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar in Maharashtra in 2019Fadnavis recently said Sharad Pawar had agreed to form a government with the BJP after the last Assembly polls but later backed outReacting to it the NCP chief admitted his party was in touch with the BJP for government formation more than three years ago but maintained certain things were done to expose the saffron outfit and show how far it can go to gain powerPawar said his fatherinlaw Test player Sadu Shinde was a googly bowler and he himself Pawar was the chairman of the ICC ldquoSo without playing cricket I knew where and when to bowl a googlyrdquo he said PTI