Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Tuesday evening denied reports that his office had banned four media outlets from covering his press conference.

In the morning, PTI had reported that the governor’s office banned representatives of Kairali, Reporter, Media One and Jaihind TV stations from participating in the interaction held on Monday.

However, Khan’s office claimed the reports were not factually accurate.

“Media who requested an interview on October 24 were invited at a common time due to lack of time,” the governor’s office wrote in a tweet. “This interaction was misunderstood by some as a press conference.”

On Monday, a group of journalists had asked for Khan’s reaction to a statement by Kerala’s chief minister, Pinarayi Vijayan, chastising him for asking nine vice-chancellors of public universities to step down, PTI reported.

Vijayan said the governor could not remove vice chancellors in a fanciful way and added that his order was subject to judicial review, according to The Hindu. The Kerala High Court then allowed the Vice Chancellors to continue in their positions until a final order on the matter is passed by the Governor.

Afterwards, when Khan was approached by a group of reporters, he told them he would speak to reporters but not to party cadres.

“I can only tell you, please anyone who wants to talk to me, they can send a request to Raj Bhavan, I’ll make sure to talk to you,” he said. “But I don’t know who among you is a real journalist and who are the executives posing as media. And I don’t want to talk to the executive.

The governor then called a press conference, but representatives from Kairali, Reporter, Media One and Jaihind were not allowed to attend, according to PTI.

Opposition Head of State VD Satheesan said it was not appropriate for Khan to ban the four outlets. “It is not fair for the Governor, who is a constitutional position, to deny permission to a portion of the media,” he said. “Avoiding the media is a fascist approach. This is not good for a democracy.

The Kerala Union of Working Journalists said Khan’s action infringed on media freedom. “To ban a certain section of the media from covering the governor’s press conference is anti-democratic, violates freedom of the press and is highly condemnable,” the official said. the union saidaccording The news minute.