Eight months after he wrote to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan about withdrawing the ‘pleasure’ in Finance Minister K.N.Balagopal, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Friday asserted that he still stands by his statement.
Clarifying to media that withdrawal of pleasure does not mean dismissal, the Governor said, “I still hold the same view that there was a violation of the oath but the Chief Minister felt otherwise, hence Balagopal is continuing,” said Khan.
In October, when Khan was already up in arms against the state government over the withdrawal of vice-chancellors of 11 universities, he had written to Vijayan that he has withdrawn the “pleasure” in the finance minister.
Khan’s move followed Blagopal’s speech, in which without naming Khan, he said that those who come from Uttar Pradesh where vice-chancellors move around with armed security guards, does not know the quality of the universities in Kerala.
But then Vijayan wrote back to Khan stating that the speech was nothing but a political response and it was not meant to lower the governor’s dignity.
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