Not interested in provoking Governor Arlekar; Kerala govt partially backtracks from 'Bharatamba' row

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The government backtracked from their earlier decision to seek legal respite over the ‘Bharatamba’ issue concerning the Kerala Raj Bhavan. For the time being, the government will apprise the Raj Bhavan of their dissent over the incident. The cabinet meeting held on Wednesday tasked the Chief Minister to inform the Raj Bhavan about this through a letter.

The government received legal advice of a favourable result from the court, as it was found unconstitutional to use anything other than the official symbol in government programs. The CPI members prevailed upon the government to move ahead with legal steps, but the CPM opposed.

LDF deemed it appropriate for the time being to express opposition to Raj Bhavan and not worsen the issue. Some senior officials have given the government a note requesting the cabinet to take a decision and issue an order, but the cabinet has not considered that either. This indicates that the government is least interested in provoking the Governor. The government's general stance is to handle the issue pragmatically without overly politicising it.

The Kerala government will inform the Governor not to insist on unconstitutional matters. If the Governor rejects this, other measures will be considered.