Thiruvananthapuram: CPM state secretary M V Govindan said Arif Mohammed Khan was now the caretaker governor of Kerala.
Around the same time Governor Khan spoke to mediapersons at a public place in Thiruvananthapuram, Govindan delivered a press conference at the AKG Centre.
"He is actually just a caretaker governor," Govindan said. "On September 5, his five-year term ended. As per article 156 (3) of the Indian Constitution, he is continuing in a caretaker role until a replacement arrives."
Govindan claimed that it was on this borrowed time that Governor Khan was taking "all sorts of wrong actions such as threatening officials with consequences if they don't visit him". "We just have this to tell him, 'Don't try to scare us, we have survived bigger scares'," Govindan said.
Govindan accused the Governor of undermining the quality of higher education in Kerala when the state's universities were "making great strides".
"The Kerala University became the first in the state to get A++ from NAAC. Calicut and MG, too, secured NAAC A+. Considering such excellence, hundreds of international students are coming here to pursue higher education. We have achieved all this despite the Governor's continued interventions in our higher education," Govindan said.
The CPM leader reiterated that the Governor placed people of his preference in universities at the behest of Congress and BJP.