The corridors of power in Kerala witnessed high drama on the eve of the state Assembly session with Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Thursday refusing to sign the policy document of the CPI(M)-led LDF government, expressing strong displeasure over a letter written by it against the appointment of a senior journalist-turned politician in a key post in the Raj Bhavan.
The issue was resolved after the government, yielding to the Governor's pressure, replaced K R Jyothilal as principal secretary, General Administration Department (GAD) with a senior civil servant.
It was Jyothilal who had written the letter on behalf of the government to the Raj Bhavan a few days ago citing the violation of prevailing conventions in the appointment of former BJP leader Hari S Kartha as Additional Personal Assistant to the Governor.
"Yes, the Governor has signed it," a relieved state minister for Local Self Government, M V Govindan, told reporters after the hours-long crisis that gripped the state administration on the eve of the budget session of the Assembly.
Sources said the Governor signed the document after receiving information from the government that senior IAS officer Jyothilal was replaced by top bureaucrat Sarada Muraleedharan as the principal secretary GAD.
The one-month-long budget session of the Kerala Assembly will commence here on Friday with the customary policy address of the Governor.
Earlier in the day, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan visited the Raj Bhavan and met the Governor in a bid to pacify him.
During the meeting, the Governor is learnt to have expressed his strong displeasure over the manner in which the government treated his recommendation to appoint Kartha as his Additional Personal Assistant. Kartha is a former member of the BJP state committee. The BJP leadership said Kartha had quit active politics later.
The Chief Minister took the lead to resolve the crisis after top officials, including Chief Secretary V P Joy, failed to convince the Governor.
Sources said the Governor was upset over the way the Left Government gave its nod to Khan's recommendation to appoint Kartha in his staff.
The Left government approved Khan's recommendation to appoint Kartha in the Raj Bhavan on Monday. Along with the approval, the government had attached a letter to the Raj Bhavan expressing its displeasure over setting a new convention in making such appointments.
The Congress slammed both the Governor and the government over the issue, terming it as a drama. "It is a drama involving the government and the governor. Attempts are being made to bluff the people that there was a conflict between the government and the governor," Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, V D Satheesan, told reporters here.
He alleged that the drama was enacted as part of an agreement reached between the Governor and the Chief Minister with the knowledge of the BJP central leadership.
Attacking Khan, Satheesan said the Governor is acting as the spokesperson of the BJP in Thiruvananthapuram. "The Governor is controlled by the BJP central leadership", he alleged.
Although CPI(M) or the party-led government refused to make official, senior party leader and former minister M M Mani attacked the Governor, accusing him of playing "fourth rate politics" over the issue.
