Kerala governor need not quit: O Rajagopal

KOCHI: Senior BJP leader O Rajagopal has rejected the demand from some of his party members that the State Governor should quit if he cannot take up the issue of Kannur killings effectively with the government.

O Rajagopal said that such statements should be taken as the "emotional outburst of the young leaders" in the party. It was the BJP state secretary Shobha Surendran who had said that the Governor should quit if he is afraid of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Meanwhile, both ruling party members and the opposition leaders said that the BJP should stop threatening the Governor. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the Governor P Sathasivam was fulfilling his constitutional responsibility by handing over the petition from the BJP leaders to the state government. He described the violence in Kannur as an "unfortunate incident".

He added that that it was an isolated incident of political violence.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala said that the BJP should not think that they can use the Governor as their tool. Senior BJP leader O Rajagopal in the meanwhile said in the assembly that his party's objective was not to insult the governor.

However, Shobha Surendran defended her stand and said that the Governor is not fulfilling his constitutional responsibilities. She said that the Governor should take into account the violence against the BJP-RSS workers. She said that Rajagopal has not said anything against her adding that there is nothing wrong in her statement against the governor.

RSS worker Biju was killed near Payyannur on May 12. After the killing in Kannur, the BJP leaders had called for the introduction of Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act in Kannur.