Governors Being Manipulated By Their Delhi Masters: Mallikarjuna Kharge Hits Out At BJP

Amid growing tensions between the DMK-led government and Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using governors as 'karyakartas' (party workers). The newly elected party president said that the "brazen overstepping of the Constitution" by a few of them recently has tainted the federal structure of Indian polity.

On January 9, the Tamil Nadu Governor skipped portions of the government prepared customary address in the Assembly and Chief Minister M K Stalin piloted a resolution to exclude whatever Ravi spoke from outside the State drafted speech from the House records. The politic tussle between the ruling DMK and the Raj Bhavan hit a new low on Monday as the governor walked out and left the House immediately after the resolution.

"BJP's deliberate design to denigrate the Constitutional office of Governors by using them as 'karyakartas', in states ruled by the opposition is an assault on Democracy. Brazen overstepping of the Constitution by a few Governors recently has sullied the federal structure of our polity," Kharge in his tweet said.

"Governors have to function within the framework of the Constitution and cannot insult the Legislature of which they are a part of. But they are being manipulated by their Delhi masters to create social and political unrest in states ruled by parties other than BJP which is dangerous," the Congress president further alleged.

(With PTI inputs)