Governor omits, CM includes: Drama in Kerala Assembly over policy address
2 parts that target the Centre in the policy address, which is ratified by the state Cabinet, was skipped Governor Arlekar when he read it out at the start of the Budget session
After the Governor left the Assembly, the Chief Minister stood up and informed the House that the Governor had deviated from the policy address, which had been ratified by the state Cabinet. The Kerala Legislative Assembly’s Budget session got off to a dramatic start on Tuesday, with Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar omitting parts of his policy address, and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan later reading out the parts that the Governor skipped.
Parts of the speech that Arlekar did not read out were two portion that targeted the BJP government at the Centre. In another portion critical of the Centre, Arlekar added the phrase “my government feels…”
One of the sentences the Governor did not read out 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.” The second portion was, “Bills passed by state legislatures have remained pending for prolonged periods. My government has approached the Supreme Court on these issues, which have been referred to a Constitution Bench.”
While reading out a portion that said, “tax devolution and Finance Commission grants are constitutional entitlements of states and not acts of charity, and any pressure on constitutional bodies entrusted with this task undermines federal principles”, he added a phrase of his own towards the end of the written text, saying, “my government feels”.
After the Governor left the Assembly, the Chief Minister stood up and informed the House that the Governor had deviated from the policy address, which had been ratified by the state Cabinet.
He said the Governor had made certain additions and exclusions from the policy address, and then went on to read out the sentences that the Governor had skipped.
He then urged Speaker A N Shamseer to consider the policy address, copies of which were distributed among members of the Assembly, as the authentic policy address.
Subsequently, the Speaker said the additions and exclusions made by the Governor to the policy address would not be considered.
The parts that the Governor did read out included concerns of the state government regarding the Centre’s changes to the rural employment guarantee scheme.
Further, referring to recent legal challenges against the Union government in the Supreme Court, the Governor said in his address, “My government has a deep commitment to the constitutional values and the ethos of our nationalist movement, namely, democracy, secularism, federalism and socialism. My government has taken all possible steps to defend these values in the public domain as well as by approaching the Constitutional Courts when warranted.”
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