Pinarayi Vijayan

The RTI queries were answered by the Indian High Commission's London office. Chief Minister Vijayan, along with three other state ministers and top officials, was in London from October 8-12 during which all the expenses were met by the Commission on behalf of the Kerala government.

"What a shame, universities in Kerala are soft targets, where appointments of relatives and party cadres are being done. Just look at Kannur vice-chancellor (Gopinath Raveendran), in the past six months the Kerala High Court on three occasions have ruled against him. He looks like a habitual offender, as instructions go from the Chief Minister's office," said Governor Khan.

It pointed out that the scrutiny committee failed in finding out that she did not have the required qualifications. Noting that all the UGC guidelines were flouted and the court cannot overlook it, the court asked the Kannur University to revisit the rank list and come out with a new one. Ragesh is a former Rajya Sabha member of the CPI-M, who hails from Kannur and considered a close aide of Vijayan.

Neither Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan nor his cabinet colleagues participated in the rally. Vijayan and the Governor have been at loggerheads ever since he refused to ink Ordinances or Bills which are concerning the higher education sector.

"The definition of a terrorist is one who uses force to get his political needs. He (Vijayan) has spoken about that I will have to face dire consequences. This is the language of a terrorist. I am ready to face the consequences and tell me where I should come so he can execute his plans," the Kerala Governor said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan went on to add that it appears the Governor has an agenda. Just look, several universities in the country are under the control of the RSS and a similar agenda is on the cards here and he wants to do the same here by placing RSS followers here," Vijayan said and sternly warned Khan that this is Kerala. He said Khan is not performing his duties as a Governor and is not signing Bills which are sent to him

Meeting the media following widespread criticism launched by the opposition about his frequent foreign visits and its claims that no one has any idea of how the state had benefitted from them, Vijayan, who had returned last week from the European trip, spent 45 minutes explaining the various meetings the delegation had in Finland, Norway, and the UK.

Titled "Chathiyude Chakravyuhem (Padmavyuha of betrayal)" in Malayalam, the autobiography of Swapna, published by Trissur-headquartered Current Books and hitting the stands last week, claims that Sivasankar had tied the knot on her in a temple in Chennai.

For a while, Arif Mohammed Khan and the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left government have not been sharing the best of relations and on a few occasions, the two have also taken on one another. When the tiff between the two touched new levels, some CPI-M leaders even went to the extent of saying that the Governor's posts are not needed in the states.

"Unprecedented things are happening in Kerala as we all saw a press meeting in Raj Bhavan... such a thing is happening in Kerala for the first time and perhaps in the country also. There are times when differences of opinion between the state government and Governor arise and when it happens, then are accepted ways to address such.