Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan was greeted with ‘Governor Go Back’ slogans, as he was about to give the policy address in the state legislative assembly on Friday.
Opposition leader VD Satheeshan said: “Honorable governor is supporting all the illegal activities of the government, including the reappointment of Kannur University VC.”
To this, the governor said, “You will have the session to discuss all these things. This is not the time … No. You are a responsible person, leader of opposition. This session is there, you can discuss everything.”
As the governor started reading the policy address, the opposition has walked out of the assembly.
Satheeshan told the media: “The honorable governor supported the illegal activities of Kerala government, including the reappointment of university vice-chancellor and approved the unconstitutional Lokayuktaamendment ordinance.”
Elaborating on the recent tiffs, he said, “The honorable governor is acting as a political agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Recently, he requested to appoint a BJP state leader as his personal staff. The GAD secretary, however, expressed his displeasure on that file.”
The issue was resolved after the Kerala government replaced KR Jyothilal as the principal secretary (GAD) with a senior civil servant.
The governor then, on Thursday, took a stand that he would not sign the address and he was not ready to address the house. “That was unconstitutional. As per article 163 of the Indian Constitution, it is binding on him to sign the address approved by the cabinet and he has to address the assembly,” said Satheeshan.
Meanwhile, in his policy address, the governor said: “Federalism is an inalienable part of the basic structure of our Constitution. Cooperative federalism has been recognized as our common desirable goal. However, in the recent times, legislations by the Union Government is taking place on subjects enumerated in state and concurrent Lists, that too without effective consultation with the states. This goes against the grain of cooperative federalism. My government is of the opinion that this should not be a practice to be continue.”
The policy address also said that despite the revenue loss due to Covid, the state has been facing severe cut in revenue from central transfers at present. The policy address said that the Union Budget has not accommodated any longstanding demands of the state.
“Kerala has attained 100% coverage in first dose vaccination and 85% coverage in second dose of vaccination in the case of persons aged above 18 as on February 7, 2022. The coverage among children aged between 15 and 17 which began recently is at 73 percent,” he said, adding, “The safety of the people of Kerala is of utmost concern to my government. As regards the Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki District, we are taking every effort to ensure the safety of people of Kerala, while making sure that the neighboring State of Tamil Nadu gets the water it needs…we have put forth the proposal to build a new dam in the place of the existing dam.” tv
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