Leader of the Opposition in Kerala Pinarayi Vijayan has accused Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar of violating constitutional conventions by directly holding a meeting with government Secretaries regarding events related to the observance of International Yoga Day.

“The Governor’s duty is to act on the aid and advice of the Cabinet. It is anti-constitutional for the Governor to become a parallel power centre. The Chief Minister has still not reacted to this. There is a widespread perception that the government is surrendering to the Sangh Parivar. It appears that the Governor is making use of this situation. In 2024, when the Governor directed the Chief Secretary and the State Police Chief to appear for a meeting, the State government had taken a stand against it,” he said on Thursday (June 18, 2026). 

CMO's statement

Later in the evening, the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) issued a statement as per which the Governor’s Secretary officially informed the Chief Secretary that the officials were not called for a special meeting and that only communication regarding the yoga day took place.

“The Chief Secretary has also written to Lok Bhavan expressing the government’s dissatisfaction with the holding of such a meeting. Meetings or review meetings related to officials are part of the executive functions of the government. The Chief Secretary also asked in his letter to Lok Bhavan to take special care to prevent such incidents from recurring,” said the statement.