Kerala governor relents, signs policy address

Kerala Government faced a few anxious hours after Governor Arif Muhammed Khan refused to sign the policy declaration document ahead of the budget session of the Assembly, scheduled to begin on Friday. After several hours of talks and discussions, Governor finally signed the document, solving a constitutional crisis.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Government faced a few anxious hours after Governor Arif Muhammed Khan refused to sign the policy declaration document ahead of the budget session of the Assembly, scheduled to begin on Friday. After several hours of talks and discussions, Governor finally signed the document, solving a constitutional crisis.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Chief Secretary went to the Raj Bhavan to pacify the Governor, who demanded the government to withdraw the order, allowing pension to personal staffs of Chief Minister and Ministers. The ongoing tension between the Government and the Governor reached new heights on Thursday when Governor openly expressed his displeasure over the Government's efforts to stop his move to appoint a state BJP leader as his additional private secretary.

The general administration secretary has even shot a letter in this regard to the Governor, pointing out that such a move was in violation of the rules and this letter was later leaked to the media. Governor has also raised a question seeking to know why pension should be paid to the personal staffs of ministers and had said he will not sign the policy declaration unless he gets a satisfactory answer.

The government, in an effort to diffuse the tension, had transferred out K R Jyothilal, General Administration secretary. Chief Minister himself visited the Governor at Raj Bhavan on Thursday to pacify him. Sources here revealed that after a point both even had a heated exchange of words during the meeting and the CM returned without finding a solution. The budget session of the Assembly has to begin with the policy declaration speech by the Governor.

During the last Budget Session of the first Pinarayi Government, Governor had demanded to remove the remarks against the Citizenship Amendment Act from the policy declaration. He later submitted to the pressure from the government and agreed to read out the policy declaration speech. This is the first time in the history of Kerala's Assembly that a Governor has refused to sign the policy declaration.