New Delhi: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Tuesday accused the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government of "concealing information" from him on adopting a resolution in the Assembly or approaching the Supreme Court on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Khan also claimed that at no point of time had he said that the state government should have taken his permission before going ahead with the decisions.
To a question that the governor is supposed to go by the "aid and advice of the council of ministers" he said, "They (state government) did not send any advice to me. Instead they concealed information from me. May be I would have given some inputs to them if they had kept me informed. This was nothing but a breach of propriety and courtesy."
Khan denied reports that he had summoned Kerala Chief Secretary Tom Jose on Monday in Thiruvananthapuram to discuss the issue.
"I did not call the chief secretary. It was a totally different thing. I don't want to discuss what had transpired between me and the chief secretary with the media," he said.
Hardening his stand, the Kerala governor on Monday rejected the Left front government's explanation over moving the Supreme Court against CAA without informing him and said it was 'unlawful'.
"No explanation can satisfy me", the governor had told reporters. Khan's strongly-worded reaction came hours after state Chief Secretary Tom Jose met him at the Raj Bhavan and explained the grounds under which the state government had filed a suit in the Supreme Court against the citizenship law.
The chief secretary, in the brief meeting, was understood to have informed the governor that the government had not wilfully violated any rules.
To another criticism that he was "too-friendly with the media" and issuing press statements daily, Khan shot back saying that he did not call any press conference and was speaking to mediapersons out of courtesy.
Ever since the controversial CAA was passed by the centre, there has been a growing divide between the governor and the ruling LDF front. While, the state government opposed the legislation, the governor backed the stand of the central government on the issue. The governor even lashed out at the state government for approaching the Supreme Court against the Act.
On Saturday too, the governor asserted that the matter was not a state subject and the states will have to implement the amended citizenship law. "There is no way other than implementing the act. It will have to be implemented under (Article) 254," Khan told reporters in response to a question on some states refusing to implement the new law.
The Left government in Kerala has said that it would not implement the law as it is "unconstitutional".
(With inputs from PTI)
