Kerala Governor asked State Govt to remove "half-truths" from policy address, which it accepted: Lok Bhavan

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], January 20 : Lok Bhavan Kerala on Tuesday defended the amendments to the Governor Rajendra Arlekar's policy address during the State Assembly Session, stating that he had asked the state government to remove the "half-truths" from the address, to which they agreed.
A controversy erupted today when Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan accused Governor Arlekar of making additions and deletions to the policy address approved by the Council of Ministers, and requested the Legislative Assembly to accept the Cabinet-approved version as the authentic policy document.
In its response, Lok Bhavan stated that the Governor had asked that "half-truths be removed from the draft of the policy address. In response, the government had stated that the Governor could prepare and read the policy address with such amendments as he deemed appropriate. It was also indicated that the speech would be resent, incorporating the changes suggested by Lok Bhavan."
The Lok Bhavan said that the State government, despite agreeing to the amendments, returned the same draft address, after which the Governor decided to proceed with the speech, including the changes he had suggested.
"However, after midnight last night, the same draft speech without any amendments was sent back to Lok Bhavan. The Governor, who returned late to Thiruvananthapuram from Kozhikode after his travel, read out in the Assembly this morning the policy address that he had suggested and which the government had earlier conveyed it had accepted," Lok Bhavan said.
The Kerala Chief Minister noted that the last two sentences of paragraph 15 of the address, which stated, "Bills passed by State Legislatures have been kept pending for long periods. In these matters, my Government has approached the Supreme Court, and they have been referred to a Constitution Bench," were also left out of the Governor's speech, Lok Bhavan stated that the Supreme Court has not referred the matter to a Constitution Bench.
Another amendment suggested by the Governor's office was to change the remark accusing the Centre of undermining constitutional principles of fiscal federalism.
"The draft of the policy address had stated that the government had approached the Supreme Court as several Bills passed by the Assembly had not received assent for a long time, and that the apex court had referred the matter to a Constitution Bench. This is factually incorrect. In reality, the Supreme Court has not referred the matter to a Constitution Bench. It was in this context that Lok Bhavan had insisted that the said reference be removed from the draft," the Lok Bhavan said.
"Lok Bhavan had also suggested that the remark in the draft alleging that the Centre's stand undermines constitutional principles of fiscal federalism be deleted. Instead, Lok Bhavan had proposed recording that Kerala is facing severe financial hardship as a result of the denial of advance releases of funds," the Governor's office added.
Earlier today, speaking in the House during the opening day of the 16th session of the 15th Kerala Legislative Assembly after the Governor delivered his policy address, Chief Minister Vijayan said, "There are certain additions and deletions that were made in the policy address delivered today by the Governor while addressing the House. In paragraphs 12, 15 and 16 of the policy address approved by the Council of Ministers, certain changes were made in the speech delivered by the Governor."
Detailing the alterations, the Chief Minister said the first sentence of paragraph 12, "Despite having achieved such social and institutional gains, Kerala continues to face a severe financial strain as a result of the Union Government's persistent adverse actions that weaken the constitutional principles of fiscal federalism", was omitted by the Governor.
"The policy address approved by the Council of Ministers, incorporating the portions omitted by the Governor and excluding the additions made, has been printed and distributed. I request that this be accepted as the authentic policy address," the Chief Minister told the Assembly.
The ongoing Assembly session is the final sitting of the House before Kerala heads into Assembly elections later this year.