Kerala govt-Guv spat continues unabated

Thiruvananthapuram: A day after Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan issued a warning to the State Ministers over their remarks targetting him and his office, State Education Minister V.Sivankutty on Tuesday said there is no need to be wary of the governor.

Underlining that criticism is the hall mark of democracy, the minister said, "There is no need to be wary of the Governor. Everybody comes under criticism and the Constitution is applicable to one and all right from the President to the man on the street. In a democracy criticism cannot be avoided. We Ministers are all elected representatives."

On Monday, the Governor's office tweeted, "The CM and Council of Ministers have every right to advise the Governor. But statements of individual ministers that lower the dignity of the office of the Governor, can invite action including withdrawal of pleasure." This tweet came after State Higher Education Minister R. Bindhu, Sivankutty, State Revenue Minister K.Rajan had taken on Khan over issues in the past few weeks. Soon after Khan came out with the tweet, State LSG Minister M.B.Rajesh slammed the governor through his social media but withdrew it in sometime. Former State Law Minister and CPI-M central committee member A.K.Balan said the response of the governor is really surprising and the need of the hour is for an open discussion on the statement of Khan and if he has the powers to do what he has said.

Last month, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Khan had got involved in verbal dual over a few issues. The latter was peeved when the former did not officially intimate him of his Europe trip and Vijayan told him when the two met at the funeral of CPI-M veteran Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, early this month. Now all eyes are on Vijayan, who has already dropped hints that not much attention would be paid to 'some' voices that have come out.