Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to table new bill curtailing Governor's powers as chancellor
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Thiruvananthapuram: As the tiff between Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan deteriorates, a report by IANS has revealed that Vijayan will on Wednesday table a new Bill in the Kerala Assembly to curtail the governor's power as chancellor.
The 10-day special session of the Assembly that got underway here this morning, has been specifically called to float 12 Bills after 11 Ordinances lapsed following Khan's refusal to re-promulgate them earlier this month.
Consequent to Khan refusing to ink the re-promulgation, the CPI-M and Khan have been having a free for all. Slamming the Kannur University Vice-Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran, the Governor had called him a "criminal" acting as a CPI-M cadre.
Ever since alleged irregularities in the appointment of Priya Varghese as the Associate Professor at Kannur University have been reported, Khan has been holding university authorities and the ruling Left government in the state accountable.
Priya is the wife of former CPI-M Rajya Sabha member K.K.Raghesh, who is presently the private secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
"He (VC) has gone all-out to please the party in power. Now, it's an open secret that other candidates with higher marks were sidelined to make way for Priya," Khan told the media.
Last week, the appointment stayed after allegations of large-scale nepotism surfaced.
Khan also announced to constitute of a special commission to probe all the appointments made in the various universities in the past few years in the wake of allegations that a good number of kith and kin of the CPI-M-led Left have secured back door appointments.
It is during the backdrop of all these developments, Vijayan on Monday decided to come out with a new Bill which will cull the powers of the Governor, as he is also the Chancellor of all Universities in the state.
Responding to it, Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said while his party will oppose the new Bill, it will maintain a distance from the tiff between the CPI-M and Government.