Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala’s ruling Communist Party of India Marxist faced strong political headwinds on Sunday, after Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president, V.M. Sudheeran, demanded action against the industry minister over charges of nepotism.
The controversy is over the appointment of two persons related to top CPM cadres in senior positions at the state-run Kerala State Industrial Enterprises (KSIE) and the Kannur Clays and Ceramics.
Of the two, the more controversial appointment is that of industry minister E.P. Jayarajan naming his nephew Sudheer Nambiar as the managing director of KSIE. Nambiar is the son of senior CPM leader and the party’s MP from Kannur, P.K. Sreemathy.
Following the controversy, it was announced that Nambiar’s appointment had been cancelled, but the Opposition United Democratic Front is pressing for a vigilance inquiry into the matter. Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan reportedly rebuked Jayarajan over the appointments.
“This is not the internal affair of any political party or a difference of opinion between some individuals, but a clear challenge to the provisions laid down in the constitution. It is an open challenge to the people. The appropriate move is to immediately drop Jayarajan from the state cabinet,” Sudheeran said on Sunday.
The KPCC president said it was difficult to believe that the appointments were done without the knowledge of Vijayan, and pointed out that the Left Democratic Front was contradicting itself after coming to power by promising a corruption-free government.
The CPM was further embarrassed when the party veteran and administrative reforms committee chairman V.S. Achuthanandan said that action should be taken against those responsible for the appointments fiasco.
To a question on whether the incident had affected the image of the LDF government, he quipped: “without doubt”.
Meanwhile, P.K. Sreemathy stoked the controversy by posting on social media that when she was a minister in the previous LDF ministry, she had appointed her daughter-in-law as a personal staff member only after the then party state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan had approved such an appointment. Sreemathy also clarified that her daughter-in-law had not applied for state pension.
