Won't mention CAA in his speech, Kerala governor tells CM Pinarayi Vijayan

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In yet another round of confrontation, governor Arif Mohammad Khan is learnt to have conveyed to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan that paragraph 18 of the governor's address, to be delivered in the state assembly on Wednesday at the beginning of the budget session, doesn't have his approval. The paragraph deals with the passage of an assembly resolution against the controversial Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and describes the stand of the Kerala government that the act is anti-constitutional and discriminatory.
Sources in the LDF government confirmed that Raj Bhavan wrote to the chief minister's office on Tuesday evening, rejecting the clarification submitted by CMO on concerns raised by the governor regarding the inclusion of CAA in the draft address prepared by the council of ministers. On Monday, in response to a clarification sought on Jan 25, the CMO informed Raj Bhavan that the draft speech approved by the cabinet should be delivered by the governor without any change. Quoting the Supreme Court verdict in Union of India vs Basavaiah Chaudhary in 1979, the governor said in his letter that he was bound by the advice of the council of ministers to acquaint assembly members with the policies and programmes of the government.