Universities in Kerala fiefdoms of party cadre, their relatives: Governor

The tussle between Kerala Governor Arif Mohd Khan and the Pinarayi Vijayan government on Tuesday showed no sign of end with the Governor alleging that all appointments in the state-run universities are “illegal” while also adding that the universities have become “become fiefdoms of the party cadre”.
“Why don’t you raise the issue that until last year Kerala had 13 universities and all appointments are illegal? Is there any other state where 100 per cent of appointments have been done in violation of the law? Universities have become fiefdoms of the party cadre and their relatives,” the Governor alleged.
Talking about the protests by the Left Democratic Front workers towards Raj Bhavan in Kerala, against the Governor’s actions pertaining to universities and bills passed by the state assembly, the Governor said that he cannot be pressurised.
“I’m not going to deal with these things. But I can tell you one thing, I think there’s enough evidence for you to come to the conclusion that I’m not the type of person who can be pressurised,” he said.
He further stressed that he would resign if he can be countered with one instance where he interfered in the business of the government.
“Job to run Universities is with Chancellor, to run government is with the elected government. Give me one instance where I tried to interfere in the business of government, I shall resign that very moment. I can give you 1,001 examples where they interfered in the functioning of Universities daily,” he said.
Earlier, the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government sent an ordinance to Rajbhavan for the removal of Governor Arif Mohammed Khan from the post of chancellor of the state universities.