India News | Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan Meets RSS Chief

Thrissur, Sep 17 (PTI) Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan Saturday night met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat here amid the brewing discontent between the governor and the state's Left government.

The governor's office said Khan had a brief meeting with Bhagwat at around 8 PM.

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The meeting took place at an RSS leader's house here.

"The governor held a brief meeting with the RSS chief. It was a courtesy call. It was a pre-planned meeting," a senior official from the governor's office told PTI.

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The Governor, however, refused to talk to the media.

The meeting assumes significance as the ongoing tussle between Khan and the ruling CPI(M) over hirings in universities escalated further on Saturday with the former making it clear that the state government could not be given powers to appoint vice chancellors. The Left party charged Khan with unleashing 'false campaigns' against the dispensation.

The Governor, who met the media here in the morning, accused the Left government of preventing the police from registering a case in the alleged attempt to attack him physically at the Kannur University during a History Congress in 2019.

But, CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan soon called a press conference at the AKG Centre in Thiruvananthapuram and rubbished the charges.

He also targeted the Governor for "unnecessarily" levelling allegations against Kannur VC Gopinath Ravindran and eminent historian Irfan Habib in connection with the incident.

The Left leader charged Khan's conduct was unbecoming of the position of governor.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Friday lashed out at Khan for the remarks on alleged nepotism in appointments in the state varsities, calling them "absurd."

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)