Congress demands Vijayan respond to Governor's remarks on VC issue

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 26

The Congress on Friday demanded Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan react what Governor Arif Mohammed Khan had said to him on his request for an extension to Kannur University Vice Chancellor Gopinath Ravindran.

After Khan's statement on the issue, Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan said that it is high time that Vijayan breaks his silence on what Khan has said.

"No one should forget that it's not the Opposition which has said this, but the Governor and hence Vijayan, you should break your silence and let the people know what's happening. Vijayan had prevailed upon the Governor to overlook the search committee which was to have selected a new VC at Kannur, and managed to give an extension to the incumbent VC. This is a very grave incident," he said.

The Governor has, by now gone public, stating that the Chief Minister had told him that since Kannur is his home district, it was a personal request that the incumbent VC be re-appointed and he had agreed due to the repeated requests.

Khan has been giving tough times to Vijayan and his government and he also stayed the appointment - cleared by the Kannur VC -- to appoint Priya Varghese, the wife of Vijayan's private secretary K.K. Ragesh to the post of Associate Professor in Malayalam at the varsity.

He had said she did not have the qualifications to be called even for the interview.

With Khan taking cudgels against Vijayan and his government, the CPI-M top brass is meeting here on Sunday and Monday to decide the strategy to be adopted to take him on.