by Harish Gupta, National Editor, Lokmat Group
Why Modi Picked Arif Mohd. Khan for Kerala
Harish Gupta
New Delhi, Sep 2
Of the five governors appointed by the Modi government last week, Arif Mohammad Khan's induction in Kerala signals BJP's growing desire to gain a toy hold in the key southern state.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi picked up Khan as he has been the person of all seasons like Satya Pal Malik of Jammu & Kashmir. Arif was originally in Congress and later joined the Janata Dal, to BKS, BSP and finally BJP in 2002. He later quit the BJP and was looking for a political role for a long time. Similar was the case with Satya Pal Malik. Since Modi wanted a politician for the Muslim majority state, Malik was chosen. Similarly, Khan is left to centre politician but he never compromised with his strong support to the Triple Talaq law and even quit Rajiv Gandhi government too. Modi saw virtues in him and picked him. Thouigh Khan was looking for Rajya Sabha nomination. But Modi made him Governor of Kerala as his eyes are set on the state.
Khan is a hardcore politician at heart and at 68, he can play an active role. In fact, Modi has been quietly focusing on Kerala for the past sometime. For example, he worked hard to induct AP Abdullakutty into the BJP. Abdullakutty is a prominent Muslim leader. He was expelled from the CPM for praising the Gujarat model of development. He joined the Congress but kicked out again for hailing Modi. Apparently, Abdullakutty was not interested in joining the BJP. But he hopped on to the saffron bus because of Modi’s insistence. When he met the PM in his Parliament office during the Monsoon session, Modi told him that since he was thrown out of the two parties because of him, “you better be with me. I won’t allow you to retire.”
He joined BJP a few days later. Modi has brought Suresh Babu, a film personality, from Kerala to Rajya Sabha. Modi is desperately looking for talent in kerala to be inducted into the Cabinet as there is none from Kerala. After K J Alphons lost Lok Sabha polls, Kerala is not represented.
