The Opposition United Democratic Front on Tuesday took the controversy over Governor P. Sathasivam’s address to the State Assembly to another level, seeking his and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s response on the issue related to the former leaving out certain paragraphs in view of the chances of a legislative deadlock. The UDF also sought clarity on the issue on the part of Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan.
Addressing a joint press conference here, Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala, IUML leader M.K. Muneer, Kerala Congress(Jacob) leader Anoop Jacob, and KPCC vice president V.D. Satheeshan said it was the responsibility of the Speaker and the State government to clear the air since there were now two Governor’s addresses before the Assembly – one read by the Governor and the printed version of his speech.
Terming the Governor’s action as “deliberate”, with serious political import, Mr. Chennithala said it was unprecedented and against democratic norms. There were well laid-out procedures with regard to the Governor’s address which is cleared by the State Cabinet. The Governor cannot leave out paragraphs on his own and if he chooses to do so, he should declare such portions as deemed to have been read. If one were to assume that the Governor’s action was not deliberate, a special resolution will have to be moved to include the portions for debate during the motion of thanks.
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There have been legislative precedences in which Governors have informed State governments that they would not read certain portions owing to their differences. The onus is on the Chief Minister to disclose whether the Governor had informed him that he would not read out these portions. The UDF leaders said they had submitted a letter to the Speaker pointing out the grave legislative deadlock that has come up.
“We have already rejected the Governor’s address since it was hollow in its promises. The Governor deliberately left out the portions that were critical of the Central government. The Speaker should clarify the situation since the Governor’s address was now the property of the House,” the leaders said.
“Our doubts about the Governor’s action deleting certain portions of his speech are strengthened by the fact that he had made certain adverse comments in his speech at a public function here two days before the Assembly address., We see a political connect in this,” the UDF leaders said.
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Mr. Chennithala rejected the Chief Minister’s stand that the matter had not come to his notice, stating that Mr. Vijayan had not bothered to read the speech cleared by the Cabinet as “he was too busy with his party affairs”. Besides, the LDF government was acting like an obedient servant at the beck and call of the Governor, he said.