Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's decision to decline for a special assembly session planned to discuss and pass a resolution against the three contentious central farm laws evoked a sharp response from the government side with Agricultural Minister VS Sunil Kumar calling it ''undemocratic'', while opposition Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala said it was unfortunate and against "democratic values".
However, the state BJP welcomed the governor's action, saying the attempt to pass a resolution against the laws passed by Parliament and given assent by the President was unconstitutional.
Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan said the Governor's decision was unprecedented and added the state government can take a decision after considering all legal aspects.
The decision to convene the special one-day session was taken by the CPI-M led LDF government at a Cabinet meeting presided by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday.
While Vijayan's office had said the session was proposed to discuss the agricultural acts against which farmers have held country-wide agitations, Finance Minister Thomas Isaac in a tweet had said Kerala was in "total solidarity" with the farmers' struggle and the session would discuss and ''reject'' the laws.
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After the government forwarded the decision to convene the session, Khan sought a clarification on the urgency for it and the Chief Minister had replied to him, sources said. Incidentally, a regular session of the assembly has already been planned from January 8 and it was likely to continue till January 28.
The matter would be discussed once Vijayan, now on a tour of Kollam and Pathanamthitta districts, returned here and an appropriate decision will be taken, he told reporters here. Chennithala said the voice of Kerala against the farm laws, whose repeal is being demanded by the farmers protesting at the borders of Delhi for nearly a month, should be raised in the assembly.
However, the decision of the governor, citing technical reasons that there was no urgency for convening the special session, was against democratic values, the Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly said in a statement.
Countrywide agitations were taking place against the farm laws which affect the farmers of Kerala also, he claimed, adding it was due to this the opposition decided to support the state government decision to convene the special session, discuss and pass a resolution against the three central laws.
He also said even if the governor had not accorded sanction for the session, all MLAs can gather at a hall inside the assembly complex and pass the resolution.
(With inputs from PTI)
