Kochi, Sep 22 (PTI) The CPI(M) on Tuesday stepped up its criticism of Keralam Chief Minister V D Satheesan over his chartered flight to rain-hit Malappuram and the alleged sponsorship of foreign trips by ministers, accusing the Congress-led UDF government of serving “corporates and capitalists”.
While CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan alleged that such trips amounted to a “violation of oath of office”, P Rajeev, the party’s Central Committee member, alleged that Satheesan was concealing details of the sponsor who paid for the chartered aircraft used for his visit to Malappuram.
“The CM’s journeys are extremely mysterious. He is hiding who sponsored the chartered flight,” Rajeev alleged while talking to the media here.
He claimed that the “sponsor” of a visit to Mangaluru undertaken by Satheesan before he became CM was yet to be disclosed.
Taking an apparent dig at ministers Ramesh Chennithala (Home) and O J Janeesh (Sports) over their recent foreign trips, Rajeev said that while people were suffering due to power shortages, those in power in Keralam were behaving like Emperor Nero, who is said to have played music while Rome burned.
He questioned the justification for ministers taking private trips while people were facing difficulties, he said.
“This government is functioning as a sponsored programme. This is not a government of the people. It has become a government that fully accepts the generosity of corporates and capitalists and works for them,” he alleged.
Rajeev alleged that Chennithala’s recent US trip was sponsored and referred to the row over the use of a Range Rover as the official vehicle by LSGD Minister K M Shaji.
“The ministers in this government are indulging in abuse of power,” he alleged.
Later in the day, CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan alleged that UDF ministers were flouting norms by using chartered flights and undertaking foreign trips sponsored by individuals or institutions.
Referring to the previous LDF government’s use of helicopters, Govindan said the government had then maintained that such travel was necessitated by circumstances.
“Now, all norms are being thrown to the winds, with chartered flights being used and foreign trips being undertaken at the expense of sponsors,” he alleged during a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.
Govindan said Satheesan had travelled to Mangaluru on a chartered flight for personal purposes on the day before the Assembly election results were announced.
“We do not consider travelling by chartered flight itself a major offence. But was the trip sponsored by someone? The CM’s stand that he will not disclose the sponsor’s details is not transparent politics,” he alleged.
He alleged that Satheesan’s chartered flight trip to Malappuram to take stock of the situation in rain-affected areas was sponsored.
“If an individual or an institution has sponsored such a trip, that too amounts to a violation of the oath of office,” Govindan said, alleging that the CM was repeatedly violating his oath.
Referring to the foreign trips undertaken by several ministers, Govindan said the government’s claim that the trips were not at the state’s expense meant that they were sponsored by someone.
“That too amounts to a violation of the oath of office,” he alleged.
Satheesan’s use of a chartered aircraft on Monday to travel to Karipur airport in Malappuram district to take stock of the situation in rain-affected areas had triggered the controversy.
According to the CMO, the flight did not involve any expenditure from the state exchequer. It said the journey was necessitated by the emergency situation and that the government had not renewed the contract for the helicopter it had been using.
The use of the aircraft had earlier drawn criticism from SFI, the student outfit of the CPI(M), which alleged that the trip was sponsored and sought to know the identity of the sponsor.
Rallying against opposition criticism over UDF ministers’ foreign trips, KPCC president and state minister Sunny Joseph on Monday said the travel had not cost the Keralam government anything, while Janeesh said Cabinet members were entitled to overseas travel as long as they did not compromise their official duties or use taxpayers’ money.
Defending his personal breaks, Janeesh said he was 37 and did not intend to “act old or rigid”, adding that he would occasionally take short personal trips.
LDF convenor and former minister T P Ramakrishnan, however, questioned whether ministers could justify foreign trips by saying they were not undertaken at the government’s expense.
(PTI News)
