Kerala Cabinet nod for spl Assembly session

Following Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan's refusal to convene a special Assembly session on December 23 to pass resolutions against the three new farm laws, the Kerala Cabinet on Thursday decided to convene a special Assembly session on December 31.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Cabinet on Thursday decided to convene a special Assembly session on December 31 to adopt a resolution against the three new farm laws. The Cabinet would recommend Governor Arif Mohammad Khan to convene the session.

With the latest decision of the Cabinet, everyone eyes on Khan for his response to the state government's move. The Governor had refused to convene a special session on December 23 as per the state government's request on the ground that there was no urgency since a special session was slated to be convened on January 8, 2021.

Following this, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had written to the Governor, pointing out that in a democracy, the Governor has to give consent to the decision of a democratically elected government. In response, the Governor had replied that the highly confidential letter's content was available with the media.

Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan too had reacted strongly and said that it was for the Cabinet to decide on the urgency of convening the Assembly session. He said that the Governor must trust the state government and take a decision accordingly.

Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala had written to President Ram Nath Kovind to recall the Governor for disallowing the Assembly's special session.

Former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the media that the state government seemed to fear something or someone would act against the Governor in all earnest. He advised the Vijayan government to issue an ordinance against the farm laws and not be content with passage of a resolution in the House.