The Evening Wrap: Kerala Governor seeks ouster of State Finance Minister; Chief Minister says no

Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan pushed the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government into a legal and political crisis by withdrawing his pleasure visa-a-vis the continuation of Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal in office. In a quick-fire riposte, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reportedly rejected the demand and reasserted his constitutional right to drop or appoint Ministers. In a communique to Raj Bhavan, Vijayan reportedly asserted that the CM’s advice bound the Governor. The government believed that the “pleasure of the Governor” was restrained by the Chief Minister’s advice as per the Constitution. Hence, Khan lacked the constitutional authority to withdraw his pleasure without the Chief Minister’s consent in relation to the continuation of a Minister or the Cabinet in the office. In a strongly worded letter to Vijayan, Khan took strong exception to Balagopal’s reported statement that people who were accustomed to practices in places such as Uttar Pradesh would not understand the democratic nature in which universities in Kerala function. Khan said Balagopal had made the indirect comment at a Kerala University’s Karyavattom campus function. “Although the Chief Minister was silent, there were innuendos against the Governor by Ministers who spoke at the function. Ministers R. Bindu and K. N. Balagopal spoke without mentioning the office or name. K. N. Balagopal said that for those familiar with universities in States such as Uttar Pradesh, it would be difficult to understand universities in Kerala”. Khan quoted several newspaper reports, leading with The Hindu, to make his case against the Minister. He accused Balagopal of stoking regionalism instead of promoting national unity. The Minister’s remarks “seek to create a wedge between Kerala and other States of the Indian union and project a false impression that different States of India have different systems of higher education”. Khan said Balagopal’s statements “challenge not only the national unity and integrity but also the constitutional convention that makes it necessary that the Governor of each State shall be from outside the State”. Khan wrote somewhat scathingly: “The reported statements of Shri K. N. Balagopal are nothing short of a violation of the oath I had administered to him. A Minister who deliberately violates the oath and undermines the unity and integrity of India cannot continue to enjoy my pleasure. In these circumstances, I am left with no option but to convey that Shri K. N. Balagopal has ceased to enjoy my pleasure. I hope that you (Chief Minister) will consider the matter with the seriousness it deserves and take constitutionally appropriate action”, he said. Khan said the Education and Law Ministers had indulged in personal attacks against him. “I wish to ignore them as they hurt me personally. But if I do not take cognisance of the seditious remarks of Shri K. N. Balagopal, it would be a grave omission of duty on my part”, he stated. The government felt Khan was reading unintended meanings into Balagopal’s words, and the Minister had not denigrated the Governor’s office as alleged. The backdrop of Khan’s latest run-in with the government was his insistence that the continuance of nine Vice-Chancellors of State universities was untenable as the Supreme Court had deemed the selection process not in accordance with University Grants Commission (UGC) norms. Khan argued that the Supreme Court’s cancellation of M. S. Rajasree’s appointment as the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) Vice-Chancellor applied to other university heads selected through the same process. Hence, their continuation in office had legal effect from inception (void ab initio). Khan, who is the Chancellor of universities, unleashed a legal and political battle with the government by counselling Vice-Chancellors to submit their resignation before 11.30 a.m. last Monday. The High Court gave the Vice-Chancellors a temporary reprieve, prompting the Governor to issue the show cause notices. The Raj Bhavan has set November 3 as the deadline for their reply. Khan’s refusal to sign the Kerala University Laws (Amendment) Bill and Kerala Loka Ayukta (Amendment) Bills into law were among the many sore points between Raj Bhavan and the government. Khan had earned the ire of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) by challenging the unanimous resolutions passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly against the Citizenship Amendment Act and Centre’s farm laws. Congress will break the system of lies, hatred prevailing in the country, says Mallikarjun Kharge Veteran leader Mallikarjun Kharge formally took over as Congress president on October 26, 2022, after he was handed over the certificate of election to the top post at a function at the AICC headquarters here. Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the party in 24 years, had defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the president’s post in the grand old party after the Gandhis opted out of the race. Speaking at the event after he was handed over the certificate of election to the top post at a function at the AICC headquarters, Kharge said it was an emotional moment for him and he would like to thank Congress people for making a worker’s son and an ordinary worker, president of the party. “I know it is a difficult time, efforts are being made to change democracy established by Congress,” the 80-year-old leader said after taking over as party chief. “The Congress will break this system of lies and hatred that is prevailing in the country,” he said. Kharge also hailed Rahul Gandhi for embarking on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which, he said, is filling the country with a new energy. Kharge said the Udaipur Declaration’s proposals such as 50% party posts to be given to those below 50 years of age, filling up organisational vacancies, setting up public insight department and election management department, establishing political affairs committee in states, will be implemented. “What kind of new India is this where youth are not getting jobs, farmers are being crushed under jeeps, atrocities taking place against women are rising, people are reeling under price rise but government is sitting with eyes closed, government is helping a few crony capitalist friends,” Kharge said. “In this new India, hunger is rising, cost of education is rising, pollution is rising. The government is sleeping but ED, CBI are working for 24 hours for suppression. In this new India, Dalits, minorities and exploited people are being insulted and opportunities taken away from them...[Nathuram] Godse is called a patriot and [Mahatma] Gandhi is called a traitor, there are efforts to change Babasaheb’s Constitution and replace it with Sangh’s constitution,” Kharge said. To make this new India, they want a Congress-mukt Bharat but the party will not allow this, the former Union Minister said. Kharge was handed over the certificate of election as the Congress president by the party’s central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry. Mistry said he hoped other parties will draw a lesson from the Congress and hold polls for party presidency by secret ballot. The Congress faces many challenges but with unity and strength it will move forward to tackle them as it has done before, outgoing party chief Sonia Gandhi said. Speaking at an event where Kharge formally took over as the Congress president, Gandhi said she was confident that the Congress will be inspired and strengthened by his leadership. She said it was her biggest satisfaction that the new Congress president is very experienced and has risen from being an ordinary worker to such heights through his hard work. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who lost out to Kharge in the party’s presidential race, pledged his full support and cooperation to the new AICC chief in taking the party forward. Tharoor, who attended the event, in a tweet said, “Gathered for a brief chat after Kharge ji sat in his new office for a symbolic moment. Pledged him my full support & cooperation in taking Congress forward.” He also posted a picture of him sitting with Kharge and Gandhi after the ceremony at the party headquarters. Earlier, Tharoor congratulated Kharge on his official assumption of the duties of the Congress president, and wished him success. Soon after Kharge took over, all members of the Working Committee, general secretaries and in-charges tendered their resignations to enable the new chief to install his team. There has been a tradition of all office bearers of the Congress resigning soon after the election of the new president. “All the CWC members, AICC general secretaries and in-charges have tendered their resignation to Congress president,” said AICC general secretary Organisation K.C. Venugopal. According to the Congress constitution, the election of Kharge will be ratified at the plenary session of the party which is likely to be held in March-April this year. The new CWC, the top decision-making body of the Congress, will be reconstituted by Kharge soon after the plenary session. According to the party Constitution, 11 members of the CWC will be nominated and 12 will be elected. The leader of the party in Parliament and the Congress president will also be the members of the working committee. However, till the time the election of Kharge is ratified, a new steering committee will be formed by the new party chief which will function as the CWC till the plenary session. To improve India’s economy, print images of Hindu deities Ganesh, Lakshmi on currency, Kejriwal tells Modi Citing the state of India’s economy and the need to improve it, AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to have images of Hindu deities Ganesh and Lakshmi on the Indian currency. “Efforts become fruitful when you have blessings of gods and goddesses... When you have blessings of gods and goddesses, efforts become fruitful and (we) get results,” Kejriwal said during a press conference. “Today, I request Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, in Indian currency on one side there is an image of Gandhiji, it should be there itself. But on the other side images of Ganeshji and Lakshmiji should be put on Indian currency. To improve our economy, we need a lot of efforts... Along with it we need blessings of gods and goddesses,” the AAP chief said. When asked about how he came up with the idea, Kejriwal said, “Day before yesterday when I was doing Diwali pooja, it came to my mind that it (images of Ganesh and Lakshmi) should be there on India’s currency... I’m not saying that doing this alone will improve the country’s economy.” He said that if we put images of god Ganesh and Lakshmi, then the whole country will get their blessings. Kejriwal said that the government does not have to change the old notes, but the images should be printed of new currency. “Indonesia is a Muslim country. Above 85% of the population are Muslims and there are only less than 2% Hindus. But they have image of Ganeshji printed on their notes... We are not talking against anyone... This is about everyone’s and country’s prosperity,” he said. Google to review its decisions after CCI fines Google is reviewing their decisions in response to the recent fines imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on the search giant. “We remain committed to our users and developers and are reviewing the decision to evaluate the next steps,” a Google spokesperson said. The company has also stated that Indian developers have benefited from their technology, security, consumer protections, and flexibility that Android and Google Play provide. By keeping costs low, our model has powered India’s digital transformation and expanded access for hundreds of millions of Indians, Google further added in their response. The CCI fined Google ₹936.44 crore on Tuesday accusing the company of abusing its dominant position through its Play Store policies. This was the second such penalty imposed by CCI on the tech company within a week. Earlier, on October 20, India’s antitrust regulator fined Google ₹1,337.76 crore. The regulator has criticised Google’s existing policies of mandating application developers to use Google Play Billing System (GPBS) for using paid apps distributed through the Google Play Store as well as for in-app purchases. This restricts the app developers from using other alternative payment processors of their choice, CCI noted. It also found this practice discriminatory as Google does not use GPBS for its own applications like YouTube. In brief The ambassadors of Russia and Belarus have been excluded from this year’s Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm because of the war in Ukraine. The Nobel Foundation, a private foundation which administers the prestigious awards, normally invites ambassadors stationed in Sweden to the annual award ceremony on December 10. “But due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Nobel Foundation has chosen not to invite the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm,” it said in a statement Tuesday. The foundation also said it would continue its practice of inviting the leaders of all parties in the Swedish Parliament, except the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats. Evening Wrap will return tomorrow. [logo] The Evening Wrap 26 OCTOBER 2022 [The Hindu logo] Welcome to the Evening Wrap newsletter, your guide to the day’s biggest stories with concise analysis from The Hindu. [[Arrow]Open in browser]( [[Mail icon]More newsletters]( Kerala Governor seeks ouster of State Finance Minister; Chief Minister says no Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan pushed the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government into a legal and political crisis by [withdrawing his pleasure visa-a-vis the continuation of Finance Minister K. N. Balagopal in office](. In a quick-fire riposte, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reportedly rejected the demand and reasserted his constitutional right to drop or appoint Ministers. In a communique to Raj Bhavan, Vijayan reportedly asserted that the CM’s advice bound the Governor. [Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan. File] The government believed that the “pleasure of the Governor” was restrained by the Chief Minister’s advice as per the Constitution. Hence, Khan lacked the constitutional authority to withdraw his pleasure without the Chief Minister’s consent in relation to the continuation of a Minister or the Cabinet in the office. In a strongly worded letter to Vijayan, Khan took strong exception to Balagopal’s reported statement that people who were accustomed to practices in places such as Uttar Pradesh would not understand the democratic nature in which universities in Kerala function. Khan said Balagopal had made the indirect comment at a Kerala University’s Karyavattom campus function. “Although the Chief Minister was silent, there were innuendos against the Governor by Ministers who spoke at the function. Ministers R. Bindu and K. N. Balagopal spoke without mentioning the office or name. K. N. Balagopal said that for those familiar with universities in States such as Uttar Pradesh, it would be difficult to understand universities in Kerala”. Khan quoted several newspaper reports, leading with The Hindu, to make his case against the Minister. He accused Balagopal of stoking regionalism instead of promoting national unity. The Minister’s remarks “seek to create a wedge between Kerala and other States of the Indian union and project a false impression that different States of India have different systems of higher education”. Khan said Balagopal’s statements “challenge not only the national unity and integrity but also the constitutional convention that makes it necessary that the Governor of each State shall be from outside the State”. Khan wrote somewhat scathingly: “The reported statements of Shri K. N. Balagopal are nothing short of a violation of the oath I had administered to him. A Minister who deliberately violates the oath and undermines the unity and integrity of India cannot continue to enjoy my pleasure. In these circumstances, I am left with no option but to convey that Shri K. N. Balagopal has ceased to enjoy my pleasure. I hope that you (Chief Minister) will consider the matter with the seriousness it deserves and take constitutionally appropriate action”, he said. Khan said the Education and Law Ministers had indulged in personal attacks against him. “I wish to ignore them as they hurt me personally. But if I do not take cognisance of the seditious remarks of Shri K. N. Balagopal, it would be a grave omission of duty on my part”, he stated. The government felt Khan was reading unintended meanings into Balagopal’s words, and the Minister had not denigrated the Governor’s office as alleged. The backdrop of Khan’s latest run-in with the government was his insistence that the continuance of nine Vice-Chancellors of State universities was untenable as the Supreme Court had deemed the selection process not in accordance with University Grants Commission (UGC) norms. Khan argued that the Supreme Court’s cancellation of M. S. Rajasree’s appointment as the APJ Abdul Kalam Technological University (KTU) Vice-Chancellor applied to other university heads selected through the same process. Hence, their continuation in office had legal effect from inception (void ab initio). Khan, who is the Chancellor of universities, unleashed a legal and political battle with the government by counselling Vice-Chancellors to submit their resignation before 11.30 a.m. last Monday. The High Court gave the Vice-Chancellors a temporary reprieve, prompting the Governor to issue the show cause notices. The Raj Bhavan has set November 3 as the deadline for their reply. Khan’s refusal to sign the Kerala University Laws (Amendment) Bill and Kerala Loka Ayukta (Amendment) Bills into law were among the many sore points between Raj Bhavan and the government. Khan had earned the ire of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) by challenging the unanimous resolutions passed by the Kerala Legislative Assembly against the Citizenship Amendment Act and Centre’s farm laws. Congress will break the system of lies, hatred prevailing in the country, says Mallikarjun Kharge Veteran leader [Mallikarjun Kharge formally took over as Congress president]( on October 26, 2022, after he was handed over the certificate of election to the top post at a function at the AICC headquarters here. Kharge, the first non-Gandhi to head the party in 24 years, had defeated Thiruvananthapuram MP Shashi Tharoor in a direct contest for the president’s post in the grand old party after the Gandhis opted out of the race. Speaking at the event after he was handed over the certificate of election to the top post at a function at the AICC headquarters, Kharge said it was an emotional moment for him and he would like to thank Congress people for making a worker’s son and an ordinary worker, president of the party. “I know it is a difficult time, efforts are being made to change democracy established by Congress,” the 80-year-old leader said after taking over as party chief. “The Congress will break this system of lies and hatred that is prevailing in the country,” he said. Kharge also hailed Rahul Gandhi for embarking on the Bharat Jodo Yatra, which, he said, is filling the country with a new energy. Kharge said the Udaipur Declaration’s proposals such as 50% party posts to be given to those below 50 years of age, filling up organisational vacancies, setting up public insight department and election management department, establishing political affairs committee in states, will be implemented. “What kind of new India is this where youth are not getting jobs, farmers are being crushed under jeeps, atrocities taking place against women are rising, people are reeling under price rise but government is sitting with eyes closed, government is helping a few crony capitalist friends,” Kharge said. “In this new India, hunger is rising, cost of education is rising, pollution is rising. The government is sleeping but ED, CBI are working for 24 hours for suppression. In this new India, Dalits, minorities and exploited people are being insulted and opportunities taken away from them...[Nathuram] Godse is called a patriot and [Mahatma] Gandhi is called a traitor, there are efforts to change Babasaheb’s Constitution and replace it with Sangh’s constitution,” Kharge said. To make this new India, they want a Congress-mukt Bharat but the party will not allow this, the former Union Minister said. Kharge was handed over the certificate of election as the Congress president by the party’s central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry. Mistry said he hoped other parties will draw a lesson from the Congress and hold polls for party presidency by secret ballot. The Congress faces many challenges but with unity and strength it will move forward to tackle them as it has done before, outgoing party chief Sonia Gandhi said. Speaking at an event where Kharge formally took over as the Congress president, Gandhi said she was confident that the Congress will be inspired and strengthened by his leadership. She said it was her biggest satisfaction that the new Congress president is very experienced and has risen from being an ordinary worker to such heights through his hard work. Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor, who lost out to Kharge in the party’s presidential race, pledged his full support and cooperation to the new AICC chief in taking the party forward. Tharoor, who attended the event, in a tweet said, “Gathered for a brief chat after Kharge ji sat in his new office for a symbolic moment. Pledged him my full support & cooperation in taking Congress forward.” He also posted a picture of him sitting with Kharge and Gandhi after the ceremony at the party headquarters. Earlier, Tharoor congratulated Kharge on his official assumption of the duties of the Congress president, and wished him success. Soon after Kharge took over, all members of the Working Committee, general secretaries and in-charges tendered their resignations to enable the new chief to install his team. There has been a tradition of all office bearers of the Congress resigning soon after the election of the new president. “All the CWC members, AICC general secretaries and in-charges have tendered their resignation to Congress president,” said AICC general secretary Organisation K.C. Venugopal. According to the Congress constitution, the election of Kharge will be ratified at the plenary session of the party which is likely to be held in March-April this year. The new CWC, the top decision-making body of the Congress, will be reconstituted by Kharge soon after the plenary session. According to the party Constitution, 11 members of the CWC will be nominated and 12 will be elected. The leader of the party in Parliament and the Congress president will also be the members of the working committee. However, till the time the election of Kharge is ratified, a new steering committee will be formed by the new party chief which will function as the CWC till the plenary session. To improve India’s economy, print images of Hindu deities Ganesh, Lakshmi on currency, Kejriwal tells Modi Citing the state of India’s economy and the need to improve it, AAP chief and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday, October 26, 2022, requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi [to have images of Hindu deities Ganesh and Lakshmi on the Indian currency](. “Efforts become fruitful when you have blessings of gods and goddesses... When you have blessings of gods and goddesses, efforts become fruitful and (we) get results,” Kejriwal said during a press conference. “Today, I request Prime Minister Narendra Modiji, in Indian currency on one side there is an image of Gandhiji, it should be there itself. But on the other side images of Ganeshji and Lakshmiji should be put on Indian currency. To improve our economy, we need a lot of efforts... Along with it we need blessings of gods and goddesses,” the AAP chief said. When asked about how he came up with the idea, Kejriwal said, “Day before yesterday when I was doing Diwali pooja, it came to my mind that it (images of Ganesh and Lakshmi) should be there on India’s currency... I’m not saying that doing this alone will improve the country’s economy.” He said that if we put images of god Ganesh and Lakshmi, then the whole country will get their blessings. Kejriwal said that the government does not have to change the old notes, but the images should be printed of new currency. [ An Indonesian Rupiah note with a image of Lord Ganesh. File] “Indonesia is a Muslim country. Above 85% of the population are Muslims and there are only less than 2% Hindus. But they have image of Ganeshji printed on their notes... We are not talking against anyone... This is about everyone’s and country’s prosperity,” he said. Google to review its decisions after CCI fines [Google is reviewing their decisions]( in response to the recent fines imposed by the Competition Commission of India (CCI) on the search giant. “We remain committed to our users and developers and are reviewing the decision to evaluate the next steps,” a Google spokesperson said. The company has also stated that Indian developers have benefited from their technology, security, consumer protections, and flexibility that Android and Google Play provide. By keeping costs low, our model has powered India’s digital transformation and expanded access for hundreds of millions of Indians, Google further added in their response. The CCI fined Google ₹936.44 crore on Tuesday accusing the company of abusing its dominant position through its Play Store policies. This was the second such penalty imposed by CCI on the tech company within a week. Earlier, on October 20, India’s antitrust regulator fined Google ₹1,337.76 crore. The regulator has criticised Google’s existing policies of mandating application developers to use Google Play Billing System (GPBS) for using paid apps distributed through the Google Play Store as well as for in-app purchases. This restricts the app developers from using other alternative payment processors of their choice, CCI noted. It also found this practice discriminatory as Google does not use GPBS for its own applications like YouTube. In brief The [ambassadors of Russia and Belarus have been excluded from this year’s Nobel Prize ceremony]( in Stockholm because of the war in Ukraine. The Nobel Foundation, a private foundation which administers the prestigious awards, normally invites ambassadors stationed in Sweden to the annual award ceremony on December 10. “But due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Nobel Foundation has chosen not to invite the ambassadors of Russia and Belarus to the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm,” it said in a statement Tuesday. The foundation also said it would continue its practice of inviting the leaders of all parties in the Swedish Parliament, except the anti-immigration Sweden Democrats. 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