Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan To Host Christmas-New Year Party Today; Governor Not On Guest List

(MENAFN- AsiaNet News) Thiruvananthapuram: The Christmas and New Year Party by CM Pinarayi Vijayan will be held today at the Mascot Hotel in Thiruvananthapuram. However, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan has not been invited to the party. Earlier, the Governor had invited the Chief Minister when he hosted the Christmas party. The Congress and BJP leaders including the leader of the opposition, have been invited; however, none of them are likely to attend the party. Around 570 people attended the party last year and Rs 9,24,160 were spent for the banquet.

Meanwhile, the Students Federation of India burned the effigy of the governor in Kannur. The governor said on Monday that he was not surprised by the SFI burning his effigy as he stated that they were expressing their cultural practices.

The Kerala police have filed a case against SFI State President K Anusree and others for burning the effigy of the Governor using petrol at Payyambalam beach on December 31. The Left-backed SFI has been protesting against the Governor for a while now, alleging the nomination of BJP-RSS members for appointments to the university senates.

Governor Arif Mohammed Khan made sensational claims against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on December 12 stating that the latter hatched a conspiracy to harm him physically. The Kerala governor accused the Chief Minister after he was reportedly being driven to the Thiruvananthapuram International Airport to depart for Delhi when activists from the CPI(M)'s student branch, the Students Federation of India (SFI), allegedly struck his car.

The police took 19 people into custody and the FIR stated, however, that the SFI activists only obstructed the vehicle as part of their protests. The SFI activists had arrived at the spot to protest against the Governor with black flags over controversial appointments to the senates of universities.

Meanwhile, the state cabinet meeting will be held in Thiruvananthapuram today. The meeting may consider the date of the assembly session. It is planned to start the assembly session with the governor's policy announcement speech at the end of this month. It will be the first cabinet meeting to be held after Ganesh Kumar and Ramachandran Gadanapalli became ministers.

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