THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On the eve of taking over as the state governor, Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar said he is going to Kerala to assist the state government, not confront it.
“Wherever I go, I don’t try to have any confrontation with the government. I am going there to assist the government. It is not to guide or pass any direction, nothing of that sort,” he said in a statement.
Arlekar will assume office as the new Governor on Thursday. Arlekar reached the state capital on Wednesday evening along with his wife Anakha Arlekar.
He was received by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Ministers K Rajan, Ramachandran Kadannappally, V Sivankutty, K N Balagopal, Speaker A N Shamseer, Mayor Arya Rajendran, MPs Shashi Tharoor, and A A Rahim and chief secretary Sarada Muraleedharan.
The new Governor will be sworn-in by Chief Justice of Kerala High Court Nitin Madhukar Jamdar, at the Raj Bhavan at 10:30 am on Thursday.
Earlier in the day, he met Goa Governor P S Sreedharan Pillai at Goa Raj Bhavan. Later speaking to the media, Arlekar said he went to meet Pillai as he wanted to learn more about Kerala before assuming office.
”Before going to Kerala, I wanted to hear a lot about Kerala from P S Sreedharan Pillai because he is from Kerala, so that I can go there and work properly; I will make full use of whatever he has told me,” Arlekar told the media in Goa.