THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar did not read out the state cabinet approved policy address in its entirety as he left out a couple of portions from it.
After Arlekar concluded reading out the policy address and left the House, Vijayan told the Assembly that the Governor had not read out the beginning of paragraph 12 and the ending of paragraph 15 of the document.
One of the portions avoided by the Governor was -- "Despite these social and institutional achievements, Kerala continues to face severe fiscal stress arising from a series of adverse Union Government actions that undermine the constitutional principles of fiscal federalism."
The other was -- "Bills passed by State legislatures have remained pending for prolonged periods. My Government has approached the Supreme Court on these issues, which have been referred to a Constitution Bench" -- the CM pointed out.
Vijayan urged the Speaker that the policy address approved by the state cabinet should be acknowledged as the official version.
Speaker A N Shamseer said that avoiding or adding portions to the cabinet approved address is not officially recognised as per the past precedents of the House and the same shall be applicable this time also.