Chennai , Feb 12 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu has lowered the dignity of his chair and grace of the House with his "unbecoming" conduct, the Raj Bhavan said on Monday.

"The unbecoming conduct of the Speaker lowered the dignity of his Chair and grace of the House," the Raj Bhavan said in a statement.

Governor R. N. Ravi had left the house without reading the customary address on the first day of the session on Monday.

"After concluding his address, the Governor rose for the national anthem. However, instead of following the schedule, the Speaker launched a tirade against the Governor and called him a follower of Nathuram Godse," the statement read.

The Raj Bhavan communique also said that the draft of the Governor's speech was received by the Raj Bhavan on February 9 which had numerous passages with "misleading claims far from truth."

The Governor's address should reflect government's achievements, policies and programmes and should not be a forum for peddling "misleading statements and venting blatantly partisan political views", the statement read.

The Governor in his address to the House at 10.00 am Monday, greeted the Speaker, the Chief Minister, the members of the House and the people of Tamil Nadu, and read out the first paragraph which contained a Kural (738) of the renowned Tamil saint Tiruvalluvar.

"Thereafter, the Governor with due regard to the constitutional proprieties expressed his inability to read the address as it contained numerous passages with misleading claims and facts and reading them would have amounted to Governor's address becoming a constitutional travesty," the statement said.