Thiruvananthapuram: The rift between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and the state government has once again resulted in a stalemate. The Governor on Tuesday, refused to give a nod to hold a special assembly session for resolution against the contentious Farm Laws passed by the Centre.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan slammed the governor's action and termed it 'against the constitution' and said ""Governor has no power to reject the recommendation of the government having a clear majority in the assembly".
Khan's objection was that there was no urgency in holding a special session of the assembly. The session was called to 'discuss and pass a resolution against the three contentious central farm laws, against which farmers have been protesting near Delhi', according to Press Trust of India.
State minister for Agriculture, VS Sunil Kumar told the media that further course of action will be explored after the CM returns from Delhi on Tuesday night.
Reacting to the development state finance minister Thomas Isaac said that there is an unprecedent constitutional situation.
Unfortunate that Kerala governor has chosen to decline recommendation of cabinet for convening the Assembly . All MLAs other than lone BJP member in favour. It clearly falls outside scope of Honourable Governors discretionary power. An unprecedented constitutional situation!
— Thomas Isaac (@drthomasisaac) December 22, 2020
In the 140-member Assembly, the BJP has a single member and the assembly was supposed to pass the resolution unanimously.
The special session was scheduled to convene for one hour, and was seen as the fist step of the state which is set to seek legal recourse against the Farm Laws.
This is not the first time the Governor is locking horns with the state government.
The Governor had disapproved the government's decision to sue the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act in the Supreme Court.
The Governor also put on hold the government's recommendation to appoint its nominee as the Vice Chancellor of University of Calicut and the appointment was prevented as the nominee reached superannuation.