Kollam: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Saturday got out of his vehicle and sat in front of a wayside shop demanding the arrest of SFI activists who protested against him in Nilamel in the district.
The Governor was on his way for a function when about two dozen SFI students were on the wayside waving black flags and shouting when his motorcade reached Nilamel. Seeing this, Khan stopped his car and walked towards the protesters expressing his anger against the Police.
He then took a chair from a wayside tea shop and sat demanding action against the agitators. Khan asked his secretary Mohan to immediately call the Commissioner of Police.
In the visuals aired on TV channels, a visibly angry Khan could be seen talking tough to the police personnel.
Khan said that the Chief Minister was promoting lawlessness in the state and that he would not oblige to being a means for the state government to divert attention from its failures.
Besides police, his officials and local people gathered in large numbers at the spot. The Governor sat at the roadside for around two hours until a copy of the FIR against the agitators was handed over to him.
Several activists of the ruling CPI(M)'s students' wing Student Federation of India staged a black flag protest against the Governor when he was on his way to nearby Kottarakkara for a function.
Khan and the Left government have been at loggerheads over several issues, primarily about the functioning of universities in the state and his non-signing of certain bills passed by the assembly.
Amid the face-off, on Thursday, the Governor had finished his customary policy address to the Kerala Assembly within two minutes, reading out only the last paragraph.
With PTI inputs