Break the ice with breakfast

Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Delhi Kerala Special Representative KV Thomas at a meeting held in the Kerala House of Representatives on March 12, 2025 in New Delhi. Image source: PTI

tKerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s recent breakfast meeting chaired the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Kerala House in New Delhi, which seemed to indicate the melting relationship between the southern state and the centre, especially in finance. After the meeting, Ms. Sitharaman’s office shared photos on social media.

KV Thomas, a Congress veteran who was explored 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 are going to violate the intense relationship between the Kerala government and former Governor Arif Mohammed Khan to attend the meeting with Mr Vijayan, Mr Arlekar, who was unexpected.

A day ago, Mr. Arlekar held a dinner for the members of the Kerala Parliament and interacted with them as Kerala Raj Bhavan subsequently posted the dinner on X.

For Kerala and its left Democratic Party (LDF) government led by CPI (M), this all happened at a critical moment. Regarding financial issues, the left-wing government has long accused the Narendra Modi government of giving brief ridicule. It accused the Modi government of committing the state’s monetary plight and opposed the center of ignoring the concept of fiscal federalism. It even brought the battle to the Supreme Court. Last year, the Pinarayi government also criticized the centre for alleged failure to support the state’s rehabilitation efforts through monetary aid after a devastating landslide in the Wayanad region of North Kerala on July 30.

Over the course of five years, the relationship between the state government and Raj Bhavan under Mr. Khan also steadily collapsed, and both sides unveiled the battle. Mr Khan’s attitude toward the government on many issues, especially in his view as unnecessary intervention in the administration of the university where he is the Prime Minister. Mr Khan once said that as far as Finance Minister KN Balagopal is concerned, he is withdrawing the fun of the governor. In other words, Mr Khan hoped that Mr Balagpal would be dismissed for saying that he believed to be inflammatory, undermining national unity and fierce regionalism.

CPI(M) slammed Mr. Khan for displeasing the governor’s office with his rough behavior. Even the state legislative sessions are not immune to high-level dramas. In one example, Mr. Khan restricted his policy speech to the first and last paragraph of the 61-page document in less than two minutes.

From there, the relationship between the Kerala government and Raj Bhavan under Mr. Arlekar – a veteran of Sangh Parivar, former governor of Himachal Pradesh and Bihar and Bihar, who succeeded Mr. Khan on January 2 – seems to have quickly moved to the pleasant range of the spectrum. Mr Alekal’s first policy speech to the state legislature remains a dramatic drama. When he insisted on the script, the government clearly had to be cautious about avoiding too much political rhetoric in the text, setting the tone for what has happened since.

How this softening of this relationship in Kerala’s relationship with the Centre remains to be seen, as it was done before two key elections – local agency polls later this year and next year’s parliamentary elections. Mr Balagopal opened his 2025-26 Budget Speech on February 7, declaring that Kerala has “absolutely overcome the difficult times of severe fiscal restrictions that have affected the state in recent years”. Nevertheless, Kerala hopes the centre will further relax its wallet strings, especially in sharing tax resources and show greater flexibility in its controversial borrowing restrictions. The state is also keenly awaiting the recommendations of the 16th Financial Commission, hoping that it will get a better deal than the 15th Commission.