Bharatiya Janata Party Kerala State Vice President KS Radhakrishnan on Wednesday slammed the state government for exerting political pressure on Governor Arif Mohammad Khan which made him quit from the post of Chancellor of Universities.
Speaking to ANI, KS Radhakrishnan said, "Without mentioning the reason, he said openly that he was under political pressure. The position of the Chancellor has been floated by the government. So, constantly getting pressure from the government and acting as the Chancellor is a difficult task hence he demanded that the government remove him."
"Also, the Higher Education Minister has no right to approach him because the Governor is always being advised by the council of ministers headed by the Chief Minister, not the ministers," he said.
Further, the BJP state vice president said, "A minister is totally free to express her own idea or suggestion to the council of ministers. And if the council of ministers agrees to that suggestion, then that should be informed to the Governor by the Chief Minister."
Taking a jibe at the Higher Education Minister, he stated, "Here, Dr R Bindu (higher education minister) snatched the right of the cabinet to write and has shown the audacity to write by violating all the norms to write a letter commanding him to act in a particular manner. It is absolutely wrong because only the cabinet has got this right."
Radhakrishnan called this act an attempt of "belittling the position of Governor" and said that the Chief Minister willingly did it.
"The Chief Minister must go and meet him. It is his duty which he has not done yet. It shows that the present government only wants to make an issue with the higher education to capture absolute powers with malicious intention," he added.
Earlier on December 18, Khan slammed Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Minister of Higher Education R Bindu over the issue of appointment in universities and said he is not able to work in an environment where he "find too much political interference in the working of universities."
"I am not able to work in this environment where I find too much political interference in the working of the university and the autonomy of the university is being completely eroded," Khan had earlier said.
Reiterating his demand that the Chief Minister should bring an ordinance to hand over the powers of the chancellor to CM himself, Khan said, "conflict comes when you assert your authority against some other authority. I have requested that you bring an ordinance, you become the chancellor, let anybody become the chancellor, but for me, it is not possible to see this kind of political interference."
( With inputs from ANI )
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