PTI
Thiruvananthapuram
The Kerala government’s policy address, delivered by the Governor in the state Assembly on Tuesday, sparked a row after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused Governor Rajendra Vishwanath
Arlekar of “omitting” portions of the speech.
In response, the Lok Bhavan claimed that the Governor’s suggestions had been excluded from the original draft. After Arlekar concluded his two-hour-long policy address and left the House, Vijayan told the Assembly that the Governor omitted portions including sections criticising the BJP-ruled Centre’s fiscal policy and references to Bills pending approval from
the Lok Bhavan.
Soon after the CM’s accusation, the Lok Bhavan termed the controversy over the Governor’s speech as “unnecessary and baseless” and claimed that Arlekar had asked the government to remove the “half-truths” from the draft of the
policy address.
The government had responded that the speech could be prepared and read with amendments that the Governor found appropriate. There was also an indication that the speech could be sent again with the suggested changes.
According to the Lok Bhavan, the speech “was initially informed as being suggested by him and agreed upon by
the government.”
It said the draft had stated that the government had approached the Supreme Court because bills passed by the legislature had not received approval for a long time, and that the Apex Court had referred them to a constitutional bench. This is factually incorrect, noting that “the Supreme Court has not referred them to a constitutional bench,” the Lok Bhavan said.
The Governor had therefore asked that this reference be removed. He had also suggested that the part stating the central government’s position violated the constitutional principles on economic federalism should be deleted, it said.
Instead, it was recommended that it be recorded that Kerala is facing severe financial difficulties due to the denial of advance funds, the Lok Bhavan added.
Earlier in the morning, Vijayan told the House that Arlekar did not read out the opening of paragraph 12 or the concluding portion of paragraph 15 of the document.
In addition, Arlekar made an insertion into paragraph 16 of the 157-paragraph, 72-page-long policy address, the chief minister informed the House.
The Chief Minister said one of the portions avoided by the Governor was – “Despite these social and institutional achievements, Kerala continues to face severe fiscal stress arising from a series of adverse Union government actions that undermine the constitutional principles of fiscal federalism.”
