Governor RN Ravi has criticised the Tamil Nadu government stating that the poor villagers in Nagapattinam district have not been able to benefit from the Prime Minister’s housing scheme. He alleged that this was due to ‘corruption’ and ‘administrative apathy’ of the DMK government.
The governor wrote on his social media profile on X (formerly Twitter), “A humongous high-cost concrete structure in Keezhvenmani village as a memorial, to commemorate the massacred 44 poor labourers, in the midst of thatched shacks of the poor all around by a political party that claims to champion the proletariat is not only ironical but a mocking insult to the martyrs and the poor.”
However, the DMK government was quick to retaliate. Law Minister S Regupathy said in a statement, “The governor is suffering from ‘media mania disease’ and seeking publicity by criticising the state government. Governors of all southern states, including Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan and Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan are engaging in a discreet competition for media attention and acting like state spokespersons of the BJP. If at all Ravi needed any clarification about the scheme, he could have asked the government. Is this right for the governor to criticise the government like an opposition party? I want to know on what basis he is alleging corruption in the PM’s scheme.”
Minister for Rural Development I Periyasamy also stated that under the PM’s Awas Yojana, there have been 127 beneficiaries in the Keezhavenmani panchayat. Out of the 31,051 houses to be constructed by the union government in Nagapattinam district, 23,110 had been completed.
“He (Governor) doesn’t know what the Keezhvenmani issue is. We came to power, and we set it right by giving land and setting the Land Ceiling Act to 15 acres. We knew the crux of the issue and set it right. It only shows his ignorance. The Governor does not have historical or political knowledge. He was appointed as Governor to create trouble for the state,” DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan added.
