Governor-CM spat

GOVERNORS are governors, chief ministers are chief ministers, and never the twain shall meet. Unfortunately, this seems to ring true for several Opposition-ruled states. In Punjab, Gulab Chand Kataria has replaced Banwarilal Purohit as the Governor. This brings to an end an acrimonious chapter that saw Purohit and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann lock horns over issues such as the convening of an Assembly session and the appointment of vice-chancellors of state-run universities. Taking exception to Purohit’s visits to border districts, the CM accused him of running a parallel government and creating an ‘atmosphere of conflict’. Purohit, who had resigned in February, citing ‘personal reasons’, denied that he interfered in the affairs of the state government. He wondered what the fuss was all about and asked Mann not to be afraid of him. Their confrontation, which doubled up as a battle between the Aam Aadmi Party and the BJP, severely impacted governance in the border state.
Mann has promised to work in coordination with the new Governor, but that is easier said than done. Things are no better in some other states where the BJP is not in power, with the CM-Governor dispute inevitably reaching the court’s doorstep. Last week, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Kerala and West Bengal governors’ offices on separate petitions about Bills kept pending for assent in both states.
Cooperative federalism is enshrined in the Constitution, but it is conspicuous by its absence when governors and CMs are at loggerheads. Some governors have even been called out by the judiciary for exceeding their brief. The Centre, which set up NITI Aayog on the premise that ‘strong states make a strong nation’, should refrain from weakening particular states by pitting political appointees against elected representatives of the people. Otherwise, the dream of Viksit Bharat will remain just that — a dream.