Opp stays away from swearing-in ceremony
Former Chief Justice of India Palanisamy Sathasivam assumed office as Kerala’s 23rd Governor on Friday. The first-ever retired CJI to become a State Governor, Justice Sathasivam was administered the oath of office by Justice Ashok Bhushan, Acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, in a simple ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan in Thiruvananthapuram.
Justice Sathasivam succeeded Sheila Dikshit in the State Raj Bhavan after her resignation. Diskhit had left Kerala on Thursday morning and her successor arrived in Thiruvananthapuram in the evening. Representatives of the State Government, who had earlier criticised his appointment, said that the differences were over and they welcomed him as new Governor.
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Tourism Minister AP Anil Kumar, Health Minister VS Sivakumar, labour Minister Shibu Baby John, Assembly Speaker G Karthikeyan, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman PJ Kurien and the State Chief Secretary attended the ceremony. The new Governor’s wife, Saraswathi Sathasivam, was also present. However, the grandeur of the ceremony got somewhat diminished by the absence of representatives of the Opposition. Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan said he was not formally invited to the event giving rise to a dispute with Chief Minister Chandy and the General Administration Department contradicting him to claim that he was indeed invited.
“The Opposition leaders’ office is receiving lots of letters from within the State and outside. There has never been an incident of a missing letter. But my office has not received any letter from anyone inviting me to the Governor’s swearing-in ceremony. The media have the freedom to decide whether to believe me or not,” Achuthanandan said.
The Chief Minister rejected the Opposition leader’s claim saying that it was baseless. He said an invitation had indeed been sent to Achuthanandan and his office had received it. The General Administration Department also claimed that the invitation had been delivered at the Opposition leader’s office well in advance.
“What I got from the General Administration Department was a car pass for the reception accorded to the new Governor and not any invitation. This car pass was brought to my office by an attendant,” Achuthanandan said. “Nobody had informed me or my secretary about the ceremony,” the Opposition leader reiterated.
Achuthanandan pointed out that he, as Opposition leader, should have been invited to Friday’s programme as it was the swearing-in ceremony and not a reception party. “The Government is now making irresponsible statements. There has been a serious error. There should be an inquiry into it,” Achuthanandan said.
However, members of the Opposition did not cite any clear reason for not attending the swearing-in ceremony. A senior CPI(M) leader said the Opposition MlAs had failed to attend the function because of other commitments and that there was no political decision to boycott it. He added that the left would not boycott the Governor’s functions.
The State Government and the ruling Congress had objected to the proposal to appoint Sathasivam as Governor. Chief Minister Chandy had complained that the Centre had not consulted him on the matter while State Congress president VM Sudheeran said it was improper to appoint a person who had served as the CJI in the gubernatorial position.