Congress backs Kerala Governor over appointments in universities

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 21 (IANS) Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran has said that Governor Arif Mohammed Khan will not be left alone in his fight against appointments in the universities of the state. He said that the people of Kerala are with the Governor in his endeavour to cleanse the universities and welcomed Arif Mohammed Khan's decision to appoint a committee to probe the appointments in universities in the past three years.

Sudharkan in a statement said that the committee constituted by the Governor should probe the postings and appointments in universities in the past six years since the Left Front government came to power.

He also said that the Kannur University Vice Chancellor and the Kerala Kalamandalam Vice Chancellor had got the support of the Left-front government and Chief Minister and this had given them the guts to even think of moving legally against the Governor who is the Chancellor of the universities.

Sudhakaran said that the CPI-M had made several backdoor appointments in universities of Kerala by overlooking meritorious candidates and had instead pushed in for the postings of the party supporters and close relatives of CPI-M leaders.

The leader of Opposition in Kerala and senior leader of the Congress party, V.D. Satheeshan said that the police should conduct a detailed inquiry into the allegations made by the Governor that there was a conspiracy to attack him during the History Congress held at Kannur two years ago.

Meanwhile, the CPI-M Kannur district secretary and former political secretary to the Chief Minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, M.V. Jayarajan lashed out against Arif Mohammed Khan and said that his personal attack against Kannur University Vice-Chancellor was uncalled for. Jayarajan said that Khan was not suited to sit in the August chair of the Governor of Kerala. He said that the Governor had made an allegation of physical assault against him which had reportedly taken place in 2019 and asked as to why he had kept quiet all these years if he was actually assaulted.

With the Kerala assembly commencing a special session from August 22 to September 2, the Governor's open outbursts will give ample of ammunition for the opposition UDF in its fight against the ruling dispensation. The assembly is being convened after the Kerala Governor had refused to sign around 11 ordinances brought up by the state government and he had directed the government to pass these bills in the state assembly. The Lokayukta amendment bill which is being brought up in the session is a major bottleneck with the CPI not in favour of amending it.

The CPI-M leaders including Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and law minister P. Rajeev are meeting the CPI leaders Kanam Rajendran and Panniyan Raveendran at the CPI-M state headquarters, AKG Centre, as only after a mutual consensus is arrived between the two, the bill will be moved in the House.