CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat on Tuesday took a sharp jibe at Kerala governor Arif Mohammed Khan amid his protracted verbal exchange with the state government over pending university bills.
She said Khan should contest the 2024 general elections from the BJP
Alleging the governor interferes in the Pinarayi Vijayan government's affairs at the behest of the BJP, she said Khan should directly enter politics through elections.
Arif Mohammad Khan recently targeted chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan while also claiming that he was “threatened of dire consequences” by the activists of the Left organisations.
"If the Honourable governor is so interested in coming directly into politics, he should do so because the 2024 Lok Sabha election is scheduled to be held so it would be part of his political understanding," Karat was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
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Brinda Karat said if he wants to measure his political heft, he should contest the elections.
"Perhaps it would be more appropriate for the Governor of Kerala to directly come into the electoral politics. Take the BJP ticket and fight the any seats in Kerala. ‘Dudh ka dudh pani ka pani ho jayega’," she was quoted as saying.
Karat, a member of the CPI(M)'s highest decision-making body Politburo, said the governor should iron out his differences with the chief minister instead of demeaning his own post by making daily public statements.
Governor Khan has been having frosty relations with the state government over a host of issues, including not clearing bills passed by the Kerala Assembly.
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On Saturday, he claimed since they were money bills, they couldn't be passed by the assembly without the governor's consent.
“The University bills are money bills; money bills cannot be introduced in the Assembly without prior assent of the Governor. They were money bills because if you remove the Governor and appoint individual chancellors, some expenditure will be incurred and then you need the Governor's assent but in order to short circuit that constitutional provision, what they did is they placed the responsibility on the universities,” Khan was quoted by ANI.
"Universities are not getting money from any independent source, they are also getting money from the state and Centre, so I asked them (Kerala govt) to clarify but they could not and went to Supreme Court, so I referred it to the president," he added.
The Kerala government had moved the Supreme Court after the high court dismissed its plea seeking directions to the governor against withholding assent to bills indefinitely.
Khan recently attacked the government over students' protest against him at universities.
