THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: For the second day in a row, Opposition Leader VD Satheesan has snubbed his predecessor Ramesh Chennithala on the D. Litt controversy.
In Kochi on Sunday, Satheesan declared categorically that what Sudhakaran and he say is the party's stand Satheesan has been peeved with Chennithala over the last several months over what is thought to be the latter’s bid to act like a 'super opposition leader' bypassing him and the party on several occasions.
The Congress political affairs committee meeting scheduled for Tuesday is expected to be stormy in the wake of the raging controversy.
Ever since Governor Arif Mohammed Khan went public with his criticism of the LDF government over the alleged political interference in the functioning of the universities, the Opposition has been highlighting the actions of the higher education ministry.
Satheesan and Congress state president and MP K Sudhakaran have taken a collective decision to expose the LDF government on Higher Education Minister R Bindu’s two letters, urging the Governor who is also the chancellor of universities to disband the search committee and recommending the reappointment of Kannur University Vice-Chancellor Prof Gopinath Ravindran.
It may be recalled that the Governor, in his initial affidavit submitted at the High Court, had maintained that the vice-chancellor’s reappointment was regular. Later, he changed his stand.
The case is pending before the division bench which has issued a notice to the chancellor on a plea challenging the Prof Ravindran’s reappointment as the Kannur University VC. The Governor declined to accept the notice and forwarded it to the state government.
"The Governor will become a laughing stock if he accepts the notice as he has now contradicted his stand. The Governor is still the chancellor of Kannur University and the issue has snowballed into a major constitutional crisis. When this is the pertinent issue, it was not fair on the part of Chennithala to raise the D. Litt issue," a top Congress leader told The New Indian Express.
When Chennithala alleged that the Governor decided to hand the charge of the chancellor of universities to the pro-vice-chancellor after the government declined his recommendation to award DLitt to President Ram Nath Kovind, he wanted to convey that he was a leader who did his home work well before raising an issue in the public domain.
If Chennithala's target is to corner the LDF government, Satheesan’s aim is the Governor. These differences of opinion have got exposed.
Though Chennithala has kept mum since Satheesan made his strong statement in Kochi, it is reliably learnt that the former opposition leader is awaiting the response from the LDF government on the the six questions related to the DLitt controversy he had posed.
The Governor once again passed the buck to the state government in his reaction made in Kochi on Sunday.