A five-hour long political crisis in Kerala, which literally held the CPI(M) on tenterhooks, following the refusal of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to approve the policy statement of the Kerala Government for 2022-2023 subsided by late evening on Thursday.
The State saw a crisis brewing up by noon when Governor Khan refused to sign the policy declaration statement which he was expected to read out in the Legislative Assembly on Friday morning.
Though Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan rushed to the Raj Bhavan on Thursday afternoon to persuade the Governor to sign on the dotted line, the former’s efforts did not bear fruit. A tense looking Vijayan returned to his office after an hour-long meeting with the Governor. This was followed by V P Joy, chief secretary, calling on the Governor and even this failed to convince the Governor. Sources in Raj Bhavan had confided to The Pioneer that chances of the Governor signing the statement looked bleak. It is reliably learnt that the Governor has told the Chief Minister that the practice of providing pension and perks to the personal staff of Kerala ministers should be discontinued at the earliest.
What upset the Governor was the announcement by the chief minister that the appointment of veteran scribe Hari Kartha as the former’s additional private secretary was a political move. By 6.30 pm, the Kerala Government announced the transfer of Jyothilal, secretary to the general administration department and this was followed by the Governor signing on the policy statement.
The news that the Governor refused to sign the policy statement was followed by the pro-Government media fielding a battery of lawyers who described the move by Khan as a threat to the Constitution. But Subramanian Swamy, Rajya Sabha member, told The Pioneer that the Governor’s responsibility was towards the Constitution and not to the Government of Kerala. “This is a Constitutional crisis and the Union Government has a right to declare President’s Rule in the State at least temporarily,” said Swamy.
Dr Sonia K Das, constitutional expert and head of the department of Constitutional Studies, Government Law College, Thrissur, described the situation as rare and the first of its kind in the history of the State.
The fourth session of the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly will commence on Friday with the customary address of the Governor. The main agenda of the session that concludes on March 23 would be the presentation of the 2022-23 Budget by finance minister K N Balagopalan.
The 30-days long meeting is certain to generate fireworks and tense situations between the ruling LDF and the Opposition UDF as there are no dearth of controversies haunting the State Government. Even as this report is being filed a scam has broken out in Kerala State Electricity Board with B Ashok, the chairman of the board himself coming out in the open alleging irregularities worth crores of rupees.
A five acre plot of prime property owned by the Board has been handed over to a CPI(M) owned private bank on a platter following the intervention of trade union leaders owing allegiance to the ruling party, said a social media post by Ashok, an IAS officer, who is being kicked around like a football from one post to another at the instance of party bosses.
The face off-between Governor and Chief Minister has reached alarming heights. “The Governor’s reluctance to sign on the dotted line in the ordinance that literally crippled the powers of the Lok Ayukta and his charge that there has been an erosion in standard of the State’s institutes of higher learning due to political intervention are issues which would rob most of the time in this session,” a senior Congress leader told The Pioneer.
He said the agitation against the Silver Line, the semi high speed rail track between Kasaragod and Thiruvananthapuram, is getting louder and louder as those who face displacement from their houses have joined hands with the environmentalists and ecologists in opposing the same.