THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A day after senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala pushed the LDF government on the back foot in its tug of war with the governor, Opposition Leader VD Satheesan lent the government a helping hand on Saturday.
Chennithala had alleged that the government — through the Kerala University vice-chancellor — had vetoed Chancellor Arif Mohammed Khan’s proposal to confer DLitt on President Ram Nath Kovind. Satheesan took a different stand saying the governor has no right to summon a vice-chancellor and recommend conferring DLitt on the President. He said the DLitt controversy is diverting attention from the real issues in higher education sector, thereby taking the fizz out of Chennithala’s charge.
“It is illegal. If the governor had intervened, then why were the university and government silent all these days? The governor approved all illegal interventions by the government in the university affairs at first. As chancellor, he had earlier filed an affidavit in the High Court saying there was nothing wrong in the reappointment of Kannur University VC. He is now trying to relinquish the responsibility of the chancellor as he would be forced to file a contradicting affidavit when the appeal comes up for hearing,” alleged Satheesan.
His reaction caught even the Congress workers by surprise as they felt the CPM would use it to thrust their arguments in the coming days.“The real politicking should have been to capitalise on the serious allegation levelled by a senior leader, not contradicting that,” said a senior Congress leader. However, sources close to Satheesan said his move to put governor also in the dock is to pre-empt allegations of any pro-RSS move by the UDF in the case.
“When all details come out, the LDF will take an ideological position that they blocked the move to prevent a former RSS leader from getting the honour from the University of Kerala. In this case, both the governor and the government deserve criticism,” said another Congress leader.It is an open secret that Chennithala’s frequent press conferences highlighting various issues do not have the new state leadership’s approval. The senior leader does not keep the state congress president or the opposition leader in the loop about his moves.
Later in the day, Congress general secretary K C Venugopal also took exception to Chennithala’s statement. Venugopal told reporters in Pampa that the DLitt controversy should have been avoided. “Now what is being witnessed is the internal bickering between two constitutional bodies. The LDF government and governor are equally responsible for the imbroglio. The governor is behaving without realising that the role of the chancellor is supreme,” said Venugopal.
Meanwhile, the second allegation levelled by Chennithala on Friday that the governor vetoed a proposal from Sanskrit University VC to confer DLitt on three eminent personalities was proved wrong as documents surfaced on Saturday. The proposal to confer D Litt on musician T M Krishna, actress and dancer Sobhana and former VC N P Unny had got the assent of the chancellor some time back. The conferment got delayed owing to technical reason.
Congress workers surprised
Satheesan’s reaction caught even the Congress workers by surprise
Sources said Satheesan aims to put governor also in the dock with his move