NEW DELHI: The governments in Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana are intensifying their rifts with the governors against the alleged anti-democratic and anti-Constitutional actions of the latter. All three states are locked in a standoff with the respective governors over pending bills and appointments of vice-chancellors in universities.
The DMK and CPM are also taking initiatives to bring together non-BJP parties against the actions of the governors. In Kerala, the friction between the Pinarayi Vijayan-led government and Governor Arif Mohammad Khan seems to have reached a point of no return. A fresh row erupted after the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government announced a protest rally outside the Raj Bhavan on November 15 alleging that Khan is trying to implement the Sangh Parivar’s agenda in the education sector.
On Tuesday, the journalists’ union in the state took out a protest march to Raj Bhavan after Khan asked reporters from two Malayalam channels, Kairali and Media One, to leave a press briefing, calling them ‘pro-government’.
The tussle between the government and the governor is mostly centred around the appointment of vice-chancellors in universities and over the latter’s demand to sack state ministers on what the governments say are flimsy grounds.
In Telangana, the tension between Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and the K Chandrashekar Rao-led TRS government seems to have further escalated after the former summoned education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy to discuss a common recruitment board for all 15 state universities in tune with UGC rules. She also demanded the reason for not filling the vacancies in universities in the last three years. While the government is miffed with the governor for not signing important bills, Raj Bhavan accuses the government of not following protocols.
Students’ unions in the state have been protesting against the governor for not signing the bill on direct recruitment to teaching and nonteaching posts, except in medical universities.
In Tamil Nadu too, the ruling DMK is at loggerheads with Governor R N Ravi, and has sought an appointment to meet President Droupadi Murmu to submit its petition to seek his removal. The DMK was also peeved at pending bills and Ravi’s remarks on ‘Sanatan dharma’. The allies of the DMK, including the CPI(M) and the Congress, said that the governor is trying to create confusion in the state by echoing the BJP’s stand on policy matters and other issues.