A meet convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan late Friday to brief the media about his proposed four-nation tour and the action program being implemented by the Kerala Government to counter the drug menace in the State turned out to be a diatribe against Governor Arif Mohammed Khan.
Governor Arif Mohammed Khan while speaking to reporters at Kottayam on Thursday had declared that he would not sign on the recent legislations enacted by the Kerala Legislative Assembly to clip the wings of the Lokayukta and to free the Universities in the State from the shackles of Raj Bhavan.The Governor had also come down on the appointment of relatives of the personal staff of chief minister and other ministers as faculty members in Universities. He was referring to the appointment of Priya Varghese as associate professor in the Malayalam Department of Kannur University. Priya Varghese is the spouse of K K Ragesh, private secretary to Chief Minister.
“Is there any rule that prohibits the appointment of relations of the Chief Minister in Government jobs? If the applicant is qualified and have the specified qualifications and experience, who can prevent the person from applying to that post? And how come the Chief Minister is privy to the application made by the candidate ?” asked Vijayan in his media briefing when sounded about Governor’s comments made at Kottayam. A visibly upset Pinarayi Vijayan asked how dare the Governor issue statements belittling the Communist movement in the country. “He is after cheap publicity. If some news channel reporters push the mike towards him, he forgets about the position he holds and opens up to them,” said Vijayan.
The Chief Minister charged that Governor Arif Mohammed Khan was behaving in a manner which does not augur well for the position he holds. “He is speaking nonsense and I do not want to go into the details. Something is wrong with his mental faculties and those who are closer to him should try to convince him about his responsibilities,” said Vijayan.
Though there was no love lost between the Governor and the chief minister, this is the first time the spat between the duo went out of control. The chief minister gave vent to his feelings at the statement by the Governor that the Communist Parties have lost all relevance in Indian politics.