"Centre appointed a cruel governor to harass us": Tamil Nadu Minister PT Rajan

Palanivel Thiaga Rajan hit out at Governor RN Ravi while campaigning for sitting MP and Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate Su Venkatesan in Madurai.

The CPI(M), a constituent of the DMK-led alliance, has re-nominated Venkatesan to contest in the Lok Sabha elections from the Madurai constituency.

"They have appointed a cruel governor in Tamil Nadu. The Governor cannot even read what we give. He will not sign any bill moved by the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly. He has wasted many crores of rupees by eating and sleeping. They have appointed a cruel governor to harass us without doing any work. To hide all this, a new RTI was created about the Katchatheevu issue that happened 50 years ago," PTR alleged during his speech at the election event.

"I don't know how long this type of 'dubakkur' (fraud/lie) job will last in an educated state. If this regime continues to hide its failure by telling lies, it will be considered a big failure for India and democracy," he added.

The opposition, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), has fielded Saravanan, a doctor by profession and a DMK defector from the Madurai Lok Sabha constituency. Saravanan, a former DMK MLA, joined the BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly polls after he was denied a ticket by the DMK. Later, he quit the BJP and joined the AIADMK in 2023.

Tamil Nadu will see voting on all 39 Lok Sabha seats in Phase 1 on April 19, and the counting of votes will be held on June 4.

In 2019, the DMK won 23 Lok Sabha seats with a 33.2 per cent vote share, the Congress bagged 8 seats with a 12.9 per cent vote, and the CPI won two seats in Tamil Nadu. CPI (M) got a seat, IML won 1 seat, and independents were elected to two seats.

The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats in the country will be held in seven phases starting April 19. Nearly 97 crore voters are eligible to cast votes in the general election. (ANI)