Governor was right in summoning CM Pinarayi Vijayan: P S Sreedharan Pillai
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP national executive council member P. S. Sreedharan Pillai says the Governor P.Sathasivam is fully justified in summoning Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to his office for a personal assessment of the law and order situation in State. Mr Pillai said the appraisal of law and order is the Governor’s prerogative and it is based on his own independent and objective analysis. On most other matters, the Governor has to heed the advice the Council of Ministers. The personal appraisal is the basis of his report to the Centre under provisions of Article 356 (imposition of President’s rule following the breakdown of constitutional machinery).
Mr Pillai was referring to governor summoning Mr Pinarayi Vijayan to Raj Bhavan for a firsthand assessment of the law and order situation prevailing in the state on Sunday. The Governor, who appoints the Chief Minister and other ministers, is bound to meet them in his office rather than go to their respective offices for a personal audience. The CPM, which initially had found nothing wrong with the Governor’s “summons”, suddenly turned critical and began to parrot the Congress line, resentful of the Governor’s intervention.
He said that the Governor and the CM being creations of the Constitution should maintain utmost cordiality and avoid confrontation. But this did not imply that the Governor should abandon his constitutional responsibilities and kowtow to vested interests. He said the Governor was compelled to summon the CM following murders of 14 RSS/BJP workers and 13 CPM activists, “as claimed by CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan”, during the past year in Kerala. Such vengeful retaliatory assassinations had not been reported from any other State, where caste, communal and other social unrest had perhaps contributed to serious crimes.
“Political killings of this order take place only in Kerala...direct CPM-BJP confrontations take place only in Kerala, Tripura and West Bengal, clearly indicating the culprit”, said Mr Pillai. Following the attack at the CPM’s central committee office in Delhi, at least 351 cases of violence were registered in Kerala. The CPM accords a high place for violence as shown in the resolution moved at every party congress for “their martyrs”. The CPM often plays victim but the opposite is true. BJP does not endorse the policy of annihilating political rivals, which is clear from the absence of such killings in states where it is in the first or second position, said Mr Pillai.
