India, Oct. 24 -- Keralam Governor Om Prakash Mathur's reported directive to make the Lok Bhavan kitchen vegetarian-only has triggered a political controversy on his first day in office, with the Congress and the CPI(M) accusing him of seeking to impose his personal food preferences on others.

Mathur was sworn in as the 29th Governor of Keralam on Friday. Reports of his instruction that non-vegetarian food should not be prepared or served in the kitchen emerged shortly before and after he assumed office.

Congress general secretary K C Venugopal criticised the move, alleging that it went beyond the Governor's personal dietary preferences and amounted to an attempt to impose the Sangh Parivar's ideological agenda in the state.

Venugopal ...