Kerala Governor denies permission for special assembly session against farm laws
The Kerala government was planning to convene a special session on Wednesday. Earlier the government had approached the Governor with a recommendation to convene the house and he later sought certain clarifications on this. Though the state government replied to the clarifications, the Governor found they were not satisfactory.
The Left Democratic Front government in Kerala suffered a jolt on Tuesday after Governor Arif Mohammad Khan turned down its request to convene a special session of the assembly to pass a resolution against the new farm laws enacted by the Centre.
The Kerala government was planning to convene a special session on Wednesday. Earlier the government had approached the Governor with a recommendation to convene the house and he later sought certain clarifications on this. Though the state government replied to the clarifications, the Governor found they were not satisfactory. The Governor also felt that there was no emergency in order to convene a special session in such a short time.
The ruling CPI (M) is yet to react but the opposition Congress has criticised the Governor’s decision. “He is acting like an agent of the BJP. His decision is not acceptable. It is the prerogative of the house to decide whether an issue is urgent or not,” said Congress deputy leader in the house K C Joseph. Reeling under many issues like gold smuggling and alleged kickbacks in government projects, the CPI (M) is not likely to engage in an open confrontation with the Governor.
Opposition Congress and other parties had also pledged their support to the move to introduce a resolution. In the 140-member house, the BJP has a single legislator. The government was planning a one-hour session to pass a motion to reject these bills after putting it to vote. But its plan fell flat with the Governor’s decision.
Earlier the BJP had criticised the move by calling it a politically motivated decision. “It is nothing more than a political gimmick. It is as futile as passing a resolution against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),” said minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan. Earlier the state had announced its plan to challenge the three farm laws in the Supreme Court.
