Kerala Governor leaves House after reading opening and concluding paras of policy address, opposition protests

Thiruvananthapuram: The budget session of Kerala Assembly had a dramatic start on Thursday with Governor Arif Mohammed Khan reading only the opening and concluding paragraphs of the left-front government's policy address.

The Governor's action is considered to be due to the governor-government rift prevailing in the state for some time.

The Governor who reached the assembly by 9 am was received by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and speaker A N Shamseer. After reading the opening paragraph of the policy address, the governor said he was moving to the last para, and after reading it the Governor immediately left the house.

While the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front protested against the Governor's action, the speaker said that it was not necessary that the Governor read the entire speech. It is considered to be the shortest policy address by a governor in Kerala assembly.

Opposition leader V D Satheesan said that the governor made a mockery of the assembly. The opposition also said that the 63 page policy address was a hollow one.

Apart from the governor-government rift over a host of issues, CPM's students' outfit SFI is also carrying out stirs against the governor accusing him of nominating BJP-RSS supporters in universities.