Thiruvananthapuram: The conflict between Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan intensified on Sunday, with the latter accusing Khan of launching "intentional personal attacks" and running a "vilification campaign" against the state.
The CM also took a dig at Khan, who had accused him of a 27-day delay in responding to his letter, by saying that the Supreme Court has frowned upon the "habit" of sitting on bills passed by the legislature.
Vijayan, in a strongly-worded letter to the Governor, said that he has never mentioned anywhere about any anti-national activities happening in Kerala. Therefore, "misconceived versions" about the same being repeatedly made in public were "part of a sustained vilification campaign to malign the state and its residents," he said.
"I am sorry to state that your goodself's (Governor) repeated misplaced reliance on unsubstantiated media reports is solely with an intention to find support, somehow or other, for wholly unwarranted imputations," the CM added.
Indicating a strong protest and disagreement "on the insinuations and remarks which are an intentional personal attack" on him, Vijayan said there was nothing to hide on the government's side.
"I am now compelled to infer that there is, in fact, definitely something hidden behind this deliberate personal insult," the CM said.
He further said that he had mentioned that gold smuggling was a crime against the nation based on the facts that it jeopardises the economy of the country through illicit currency flows and deprives the Union and the state of its legitimate tax revenue.
"Nothing more needs to be attributed to this view. Your good self may kindly desist from stretching this beyond what was intended by me," he said.
Vijayan said that gold that was being seized by the state police was probably 'duty evaded' and escaped the scrutiny of the Customs officials at the airports, adding that preventive action against smuggling of the yellow metal was "exclusively in the domain of the Union government".
The statistics of the gold and cash seized by police based on their effective surveillance have been placed on their official website and the press was briefed regarding the figures by him, he said.
"I have stated nothing more and nothing less. Now, the same is being misconceived, probably purposefully, in a manner never intended by me," he contended.
The CM also replied to the Governor's contention that there was a delay of 27 days in Vijayan's answer to his letter dated September 10 seeking comments on certain allegations by MLA P V Anvar.
Vijayan said that in his letter dated October 7 he had "clearly stated the reasons" for the same.
He further said that enquiries were being conducted regarding the allegations by Anvar, "and it takes reasonable time to gather facts".
"The time taken for giving a detailed reply to the Governor was because of this and not appreciating this is contrary to logic and reason. There was no question of 'sitting on the communication' from the Governor.
"The enquiries are still on. It is quite known in the public domain that the habit of sitting on even bills passed by the legislature have come in for adverse remarks from even the Apex Court," the CM said, taking a dig at Khan who had held on to various bills passed by the Assembly for a long time before forwarding them to the President.
Regarding the Governor's accusation of the CM keeping him in the dark about certain issues, including crimes against the nation. Vijayan said that the state government was keeping him informed on all aspects of administration and legislation.
He also said that ministers and officials have visited the Governor to answer his queries regarding bills passed by the Assembly.
Vijayan also clarified that he had expressed disagreement on the summoning of the chief secretary and the DGP by the Governor as they were being called to explain statements which were allegedly wrongly attributed to him (CM).
Earlier in the day, in continuation of the ongoing row between the Governor and the CM, Khan referred to CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan as a 'johnny', two days after the Marxist veteran termed him a "caretaker Governor".
The Governor and the CM have been at loggerheads following Khan's summons to the chief secretary and DGP seeking information about any alleged anti-national activities going on in the state.
On Friday, Khan had accused Vijayan of keeping him in the dark about "crimes against the nation" committed in the state and said he will report it to the Centre and the President.
Hitting back at him, Govindan had called Khan a "caretaker Governor" and said "do not try to scare us".
The Congress-led UDF, meanwhile, has termed the tussle between Khan and the CPI(M) as a "drama" which the two sides enact whenever the ruling Left government is in trouble. "They will soon enter into a compromise as always," it said.
