Chennai, Mar 16 (IANS): Pro-Dravidian outfit, Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (TPDK) has sent packets of ash to Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi as a symbolic protest against him not giving assent to the bill passed by the state assembly to ban online gambling.

A party member on Thursday said that this was a symbolic protest to bring to the notice of society that 42 people had lost their lives due to losses from online gambling, adding "ash packets were sent to the Governor to make him realise the gravity of the issue".

Governor R.N. Ravi had returned the bill passed by the state legislative assembly four months after it was lying dormant on his table.

The Governor had rejected the bill, citing the legal competence of the legislative assembly to pass such a bill.

The TPDK cadres said that they had mixed the ashes of a few of the 42 who committed suicide due to losses in online gambling while sending them to the Governor.

The state government led by the Chief Minister M.K. Stalin and Tamil Nadu Governor R.N. Ravi has been at loggerheads, and the Governor had even walked out of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly during the last session.