Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 18 For the second day in succession the CPI, the second biggest ally in the ruling Left government, on Friday expressed its displeasure at the way things are going on in the state especially on issues between Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
If on Thursday it was the turn of Revenue Minister K. Rajan of the CPI to express his party's displeasure at the way Vijayan handled the Lokayukta (amendment) Ordinance without taking the allies of the Left into confidence, on Friday it was party state secretary Kanam Rajendran who slammed the way things were going forward.
On Thursday Vijayan made a dash to the Raj Bhavan but Khan continued to be in a defiant mood and the two reportedly had an exchange of words.
One reason for Khan to take a tough stand was that senior journalist Hari S. Kartha, who was recently appointed Additional Private Secretary to Khan, is also a member of the BJP's state committee. This irked Vijayan and became a point of public discussion.
It is understood that in the file sent to Raj Bhavan, there was a mention that such a thing has not happened before in the state, and this had displeased Khan.
The official who wrote the sentence in the file was General Administration Secretary K.R. Jyothilal, and as a trade off between the governor and the government, the senior bureaucrat was moved out.
It was after that, that Khan signed the file of his address to be made at 9 a.m. on Friday to the Kerala Assembly.
Rajendran said everybody saw on Thursday how Khan was able to squeeze the government by refusing to sign his address to the assembly and how he was able to extract what he needed from the government.
"The act of the Governor to bargain and the way the Government succumbed to it were both wrong. Khan as Governor is duty bound to read out his address," said Rajendran.
In response to a question if it was right for Vijayan to go and meet Khan, he shot back, "that you go and ask him (Vijayan)."
With the new session of the assembly opening on Friday, the Congress led Opposition is going to ride on the back of the CPI to take on Vijayan. All eyes now are on how Vijayan is going to handle it.
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