Speaker tenders unconditional apology to Governor

Thiruvananthapuram: Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishanan has tendered unconditional apology to Governor P Sathasivam for not inviting him for the 60th year celebrations of state formation day held at the assembly complex here on November one.

Sreeramakrishan in a letter to Sathasivam tendered unconditional apology "for causing inconvenience" and also clarified that "there was no deliberate intention to avoid or ignore" him.

It was pointed out in the letter that it was due to certain technical issues that Governor could not be invited, sources at the Speaker's office said here Sunday.

"Government seeks the co-operation of the Governor for all its future programmes and also for the functioning of legislature," the letter said.

The CPI(M)-led LDF government had come under attack for not inviting the Governor and also three former Chief Minister's for the function.

Besides Governor, CPI(M) veteran V S Achuthanandan and two former Congress Chief Ministers A K Antony and Oommen Chandy kept away from the function to mark the year-long diamond jubilee celebrations.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who inaugurated the celebrations, had said that the Governor was not invited due to "protocol" issues.

In his opening remark at the function, he had said the government had not "forgotten" the Governor as stated in some quarters.

Giving reasons for omitting the Governor, Vijayan said "if the Governor was invited, only a limited number of people could have been accommodated on stage. But as you can see now, there are more than 60 persons from various fields who are on stage."

Year-long programmes have been lined up as part of the celebrations and a function "more attractive" would be held later, in which the Governor would be invited, he had said.