BJP, Congress corner TN governor over stalling Sasikala's swearing-in

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress on Tuesday accused Tamil Nadu governor Ch. Vidyasagar Rao of flouting the Constitution and convention by not administering oath of office to the newly elected Tamil Nadu Chief Minister V.K. Sasikala Natarajan.

"I have no reason to support Sasikala, but the factual matter is she is entitled now. She is devout Hindu and she is likely to crackdown on anti-national forces in the state that is why they are making this hue and cry. If you want to remove her, the best time is by-election when she has to be elected as an MLA. Mobilise the public and say vote her out, but to violate the democratic process is very bad development," BJP leader Subramanian Swamy told ANI.

Swamy further said the governor owes an explanation. He said President Pranab Mukherjee should seek an explanation.

"I think the governor was wrong. There is no dispute that she is the nominee of the majority party in the assembly. So, he should have immediately administered the oath of office to her. We have to go by the rule of law whether we like her or not," he added.

Echoing similar views, Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said: "Sasikala is duly elected by her local MLAs. Legally she should be sworn in and I don't think there should be any hesitation either on part of governor or anybody else. It is very clear that anybody who enjoys the support of a majority of the MLAs in a Legislative Assembly will be made the chief minister and that is our procedure. Why the governor is delaying the swearing in I don't know."

Sasikala was all set to take over as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister today but the plan hit legal hurdle as a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court yesterday seeking to restrain the oath ceremony.

Absence of the governor has also become another reason for the stall in the swearing-in ceremony as he headed for Mumbai from New Delhi and not to Chennai.

The reports also suggested that Rao was seeking legal advice before administering the oath of office to Sasikala.