Breaking the ice over breakfast

Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, and K.V. Thomas, Special Representative of the Kerala government in Delhi, during a meeting at Kerala House, in New Delhi, on March 12, 2025.
| Photo Credit: PTI

The recent breakfast meeting that Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hosted for Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman at the Kerala House in New Delhi seemed to signal a thaw in relations between the southern State and the Centre, especially on the financial front. After the meeting, Ms. Sitharaman’s office shared photographs on social media.

K.V. Thomas, a Congress veteran who was expelled from his party for aligning with the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s agenda and who is now the Kerala government’s special representative in New Delhi, was also present at the meeting on March 12. But what really grabbed the headlines was the presence and role of Kerala’s new Governor, Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. Even if we were to discount the acrimonious relationship that the Kerala government had with the previous Governor, Arif Mohammed Khan, to see Mr. Arlekar accompanying Mr. Vijayan to the meeting was unexpected.

A day earlier, Mr. Arlekar had hosted a dinner for the Members of Parliament from Kerala and interacted with them “on issues of concern”, as the Kerala Raj Bhavan later posted on X. He had also assured Mr. Vijayan, who was present at the dinner, of his support to the State government in presenting its issues effectively before the Centre.

For Kerala and its CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government, all this is happening at a critical point in time. Regarding financial matters, the Left government has for long accused the Narendra Modi government of giving it short shrift. It has blamed the Modi government for the State’s mounting money woes and raged against the Centre for disregarding the concept of fiscal federalism. It even took the battle to the Supreme Court. Last year, in the aftermath of the destructive July 30 landslides in north Kerala’s Wayanad district, the Pinarayi government also criticised the Centre for allegedly failing to support the State’s rehabilitation efforts with monetary aid.

Over a five-year period, the State government’s relations with the Raj Bhavan under Mr. Khan had also steadily crumbled, with both sides taking the battle out into the open. Mr. Khan had taken strong exception to the government’s approach on a number of issues, especially in what he perceived as its unwarranted interference in the administration of universities of which he is Chancellor. At one point, Mr. Khan stated that he was withdrawing the Governor’s pleasure as far as Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal was concerned. In other words, Mr. Khan wanted Mr. Balagopal dismissed for making remarks that he saw as seditious, undermining national unity and stoking regionalism.

On its part, the CPI(M) slammed Mr. Khan for dishonouring the Office of the Governor with his brazen behaviour. Even the State Legislative Assembly was not immune to the high drama. In one instance, Mr. Khan wound up his policy address in less than two minutes, limiting himself to just the first and last paragraphs of the 61-page document.

From there, the Kerala government’s relations with the Raj Bhavan under Mr. Arlekar — a Sangh Parivar veteran and former Governor of Himachal Pradesh and Bihar who succeeded Mr. Khan on January 2 — seem to have shifted swiftly to the pleasanter end of the spectrum. Mr. Arlekar’s maiden policy address to the State Assembly was, despite its two-hour duration, shorn of any drama. While he stuck to the script, the government apparently took care to avoid excessive political rhetoric in the text, setting the tone for what has since transpired.

How this perceived softening in Kerala’s relations with the Centre works out for the State remains to be seen, coming as it does ahead of two crucial elections — the local body polls later this year and the Assembly elections next year. Mr. Balagopal’s 2025-26 Budget speech on February 7 had opened with the announcement that Kerala has “definitely overcome the trying times of severe fiscal constraints that had affected the State in recent years”. Nonetheless, Kerala expects the Centre to further loosen its purse strings, especially in the sharing of tax resources, and show more flexibility in its stand on the contentious issue of borrowing limits. The State is also keenly awaiting the recommendations of the 16th Finance Commission, hoping that it will get a better deal than it did under the 15th Commission.