While the contents of the letter are unknown, several quarters suggest that Vijayan accused the Governor of creating a constitutional crisis.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor han. (KB Jayachandran/South First)
The bitter standoff between Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Governor Arif Mohammad Khan seems to have taken a temporary truce.
The Governor is not in the state and is expected back after the New Year. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Vijayan reached the capital, Thiruvananthapuram, after his month-long Nava Kerala Sadas — an outreach programme — across the state.
The truce, however, seems to be the lull before the storm as the Governor would be delivering the customary address to the state Assembly on the first day of the Budget session in early January.
The Assembly is likely to witness uproar over the police highhandedness and the attack on Congress workers by DYFI men.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO)’s contradictory stands on the letters Vijayan sent to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi two days ago continue to confuse administrative circles, largely because of the unusual level of secrecy surrounding the letters.
Unlike in the past, the CMO did not disclose the content of the letter either through a press release of the Public Relations Department or through the social media handles of the General Administration Department.
However, media houses were informed that the Chief Minister had written to the President and Prime Minister, seeking the recall of the Governor who “willfully created a constitutional crisis” in the state.
When a section of the Malayalam media carried that information, a modified version of the content was made available to news organisations. The latest version said no letter was written to the President. The letter to the Prime Minister did not demand the recall of the Governor, it said.
Later, the CMO said the letter sought Modi’s intervention to ensure Khan discharged his constitutional duties and conducted himself within the bounds of his office. When the media sought Khan’s reaction to the letter before he left for Delhi, the Governor said he was least concerned.
“Let people write letters,” was his curt reply.
On his part, Vijayan refused to reply to questions about the letter. At news conferences organised as part of the Nava Kerala Sadas, the Chief Minister ignored such questions and focused on other issues.
When contacted, CPI(M) central committee member and former minister AK Balan, known as the conscience keeper of the Chief Minister, told South First that the letter’s content was confidential.
“It’s quite common among prime ministers and state chief ministers to write to both sides frequently. Only those letters that are not confident would be released to the public. Here, my understanding is that the Chief Minister has not demanded the recall of the government as it involves many procedures. The Chief Minister might have sought the help of the prime minister to ease the conflict between the constitutional bodies,” Balan said.
When EK Nayanar of the CPI(M) was Chief Minister over two decades ago, a similar letter was dispatched to the then Congress government at the Centre, seeking steps to reign in the then governor Ram Dulari Sinha, who interfered in the day-to-day affairs of the state government. The Union government had then preferred to ignore the letter, and Sinha continued to have her way until the end of her term.
Even now, the CPI(M) is not expecting any intervention from the prime minister. Vijayan and other CPI(M) leaders have been accusing the Governor of attempting to implement the RSS agenda in the state with the tacit approval of the BJP’s national leaders, including Modi.
The relationship between Vijayan and Khan has hit the rocks with the former repeatedly criticising the Governor over his public posturing, disparaging remarks against the state government, and for taking on the SFI on the streets.
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