Chennai, May 19 -- Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Sunday urged his counterparts in eight non-BJP ruled states to oppose the Presidential reference to the Supreme Court on deadlines for the President and governors over bills and sought their cooperation to "evolve a coordinated legal strategy" before the court and "present a united front". Stalin's letter to his counterparts comes in the backdrop of President Droupadi Murmu on May 13 putting forth 14 questions before the Supreme Court on constitutionality of its April 8 verdict, setting deadlines for the President and governors to clear the bills passed by state legislatures. The judgment came in the case filed by the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government against governor RN Ravi for sitting on bills for long period. "Obviously, the BJP-led Union government is attempting to unsettle this judgment, which can be invoked as a precedent by other states when faced with an obstinate governor. As the first limb of their ploy, the BJP government advised the President to seek a reference before the Supreme Court," Stalin alleged. Stalin, who is also the DMK president, requested the chief ministers of non-BJP ruled states to oppose this reference sought by the President before the Supreme Court. "We must evolve a coordinated legal strategy before the court and present a united front to preserve and protect the basic structure of the Constitution, as upheld by our Supreme Court in its historic judgement (State of Tamil Nadu vs Governor of Tamil Nadu). I look forward to your immediate and personal intervention in this vital issue," Stalin said. Stalin wrote to the chief ministers of West Bengal (Mamata Banerjee), Karnataka (Siddaramaiah), Himachal Pradesh (Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu), Telangana (A Revanth Reddy), Kerala (Pinarayi Vijayan), Jharkhand (Hemant Soren), Punjab (Bhagwant Mann) and the Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (Omar Abdullah). In the landmark verdict on April 8, the top court found Tamil Nadu governor Ravi's action illegal and fixed timelines for governors across the country as well as the President of India to act on bills passed by state legislatures. "This historic judgement obtained by my government is not only for my state but for all states since it upholds the federal structure and distribution of powers between the states and the Union, thus effectively preventing the obstruction of legislations enacted by democratically elected state legislatures by an appointee of the Union and an unelected figurehead - the Governor," Stalin wrote in the letter. "All of us have been witness to the way in which the BJP-led Union government has used governors to obstruct and impede functioning of opposition ruled states," he alleged. Highlighting the top court's verdict on governors, Stalin said the judgment will ensure that the "Union government does not unduly interfere" with the state governments performing their roles and responsibilities. It is well known that the advisory jurisdiction of the Supreme Court cannot be invoked or exercised when the issue in question has already been decided by an authoritative pronouncement of the court, Stalin said. "Yet, the BJP government has pressed ahead with seeking a reference, which points to their sinister intent," he alleged. The apex court's verdict came as a shot in the arm for the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government, which has been at loggerheads with Governor Ravi over various issues, including the latter stalling 10 bills after the assembly re-enacted them. The top court held that the Governor's actions lacked bona fides and amounted to an impermissible "pocket veto," ruling that the ten bills - re-passed by the Tamil Nadu assembly after initially being withheld - were deemed to have received the Governor's assent on the day they were returned to him, setting aside any contrary action taken subsequently. This is not the first time that Stalin has rallied chief ministers of other opposition ruled states. Earlier on March 22, he led a joint action committee in Chennai against the proposed delimitation exercise based on population, which was attended by CMs of four states and political leaders from three other states. In 2021, he wrote to 12 chief ministers of non-BJP to garner support against the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET)....