Chennai: A day after a delegation of TVK ministers met Left party leaders and said they were unaware of the controversial circular directing Universities to monitor students affiliated with Left parties, CPI state secretary M Veerapandian on Saturday rejected the explanation.Veerapandian said the chief minister and ministers should direct officials, but alleged that the opposite was happening in Tamil Nadu. “This is not a govt run by officials. Under the Constitution, officials are servants of the people and the elected govt. It is the ministers and the chief minister, as representatives of the people, who should guide officials. But the situation is upside down in Tamil Nadu,” he said at a joint press conference with CPM state secretary P Shanmugam.Veerapandian said the govt could proceed with the proposed exercise if it wished. “Let them conduct the survey in universities, from Oxford University to institutions in Tamil Nadu. Everywhere, professors and students support the Left. But they will not be able to complete the survey in one lifetime,” he said. The Left parties, CPI, CPM and CPI (ML) have postponed their joint public rally in Tiruchi to Oct 15.
