Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's decision to call for the resignation of Vice Chancellors (VCs) of nine universities in the state stirred up a political storm on Sunday with the ruling CPI(M) terming the move as an 'attempt to appoint RSS members' at the helm of varsities, while the Congress-led UDF opposition welcomed it. While CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan said the Governor's latest decision as Chancellor of universities in the state was "unheard of" and was one among many other similar decisions, Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan welcomed it as "belated". Speaking to reporters here, Govindan said there was no doubt that the call for the resignation of the nine VCs was part of a plan to use the Governor for appointing those close to or in the RSS at the helm of the varsities through the back door.
"It is a political agenda and will be countered by the state of Kerala," he said. He said that there is power and authority (in the Governor) to take certain decisions, but it has to be done as per the Constitution and added that things have reached "a level of madness". Satheesan, on the other hand, said that the Governor finally accepted now what the opposition has been saying for a long that University Grants Commission's norms were being violated while appointing VCs in the state's universities.
He, in a Facebook post, alleged that such illegal appointments were taking place when the Governor and the state government were working together. "We welcome the fact that the Governor is now ready to correct the mistake he made, even if it's belated," he said. Kerala Higher Education Minister R Bindu said that the "unilateral" decision of the Governor was a "deliberate and conscious effort" to create problems in the field of higher education in the southern state.
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