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Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday responded to the allegations made by the state's Governor, Arif Mohammad Khan, saying that the remarks made by the Governor were "contrary to facts."
In a letter released by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO), Pinarayi Vijayan refuted two allegations made by the Governor: one claiming that the CM "lacks credibility" and is hiding certain things, and another suggesting that the Kerala Police had stated that smuggled gold was used to fund banned organizations. "Addressing the second allegation first, let me bring to your kind attention the fact that the Kerala Police has clarified vide its press release (widely reported in electronic and print media) that there has been no such mention at any point of time in its official website. The statement made by your goodself is, therefore, clearly contrary to facts," read the CM's letter. Vijayan characterized the allegation regarding his credibility as an "intentional personal attack" and emphasized that the government is not hiding anything. "Coming to the first allegation, let me be permitted to place my strong protest and disagreement on the insinuations and remarks which are an intentional personal attack on me. There is nothing to hide from the Government's side," he added. While speaking to reporters on Saturday, Governor Khan criticized CM Vijayan for allegedly misattributing remarks on gold smuggling and accused him of keeping the Governor in the dark. "If I come to know that certain activities which are prejudicial to the security and integrity of the country are going on- Is it my duty to report to the president or not? And when the source of this information is the chief minister himself then is it not proper on my part to write to him and ask him why he has not shared this information with me and why he has kept me in dark and provided all the information? Now he is saying that he has never said there is any anti-national activity," Governor Khan told the media. "He says there was absolutely no mention of anti-national or anti-state activities going on in any public statement made by him, I am ready to believe him. But in the same letter, he says gold smuggling is an activity which jeopardizes the national economy and also is one of the causes of tax leakage. He says that he made a general statement in the press briefing that the said activities are crimes against the nation," Khan added. The Kerala CM again mentioned in his letter that he had not mentioned about any anti-national activities in the state. "I reiterate that I have not made any mention about any anti-national activities happening in State either in my above stated interview to The Hindu or in my aforementioned press briefing," read the letter. The CM further claimed that regarding briefing the Governor about policy matters, there has never been a delay and all the information including the minutes of the meeting of the Council of Ministers has always been shared to the Governor without delay, the statement read, "Whenever, Hon'ble Governor required a briefing on the bills passed by the Legislative Assembly, the Ministers along with officials have visited your goodself and answered the queries." Calling certain allegations against the CM as "without factual basis", the letter read, "Let me also be permitted to gently remind the Hon'ble Governor, I am compelled to state that the allegations without factual basis and personal insults do not help to understand matters and draw clear and unbiased conclusions." (ANI)
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