Kerala BJP chief demands CM's resignation on Guv's outburst

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 12 Kerala state president of the BJP, K. Surendran has demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan after the outburst of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan over the issue of postings of vice-chancellors in universities.

Arif Mohammed Khan had openly told media persons that he would quit the post of Chancellor of the Universities and if the state government brings an ordinance replacing him with the Chief Minister of Kerala as the Chancellor, he would sign the papers. This has created a major political storm in the state with the opposition Congress lambasting the state government.

The BJP state president in a press conference at the state capital said that the Chief Minister does not have any moral authority to continue in office after the Governor's scathing remark.

K. Surendran also called for the dismissal of state higher education minister, R. Bindu.

The Kerala Governor had objected to the Kannur University Vice-Chancellor Dr Gopinath Ravindran and is sore that the state government proceeded with the posting even after Governor's objection. Arif Mohammed Khan also said that the standard of the Universities and academics were lowered following political interventions in the postings of Vice-Chancellors.

Surendran said that the Kerala CPI-M was trying to muzzle all the academic institutions and was packing these institutions of higher learning with people from the CPI-M background and added that the universities in Kerala were highly politicized.

Meanwhile, Arif Mohammed Khan reiterated his position that he would review his decision only if full proof guarantee was given that there would not be any intervention on the part of the state government in postings in Universities.

He also said on Sunday that there has to be a will to end the political interference in academic institutions and that dialogues would not do any good but instead, action was necessary.

The Governor also kept the Kerala BJP at an arms distance and did not heed the party's request for posting a candidate recommended by it as the Kannur Vice-Chancellor. He had then informed the Prime Minister that the Kerala BJP had recommended the name of a candidate for the post of Calicut university Vice-Chancellor and that he had not considered that.

The Governor had told media then that the Prime Minister had told him to go ahead with academic merit as the criteria in postings.

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