Why ‘secrecy’ over foreign trip, UDF asks Kerala CM; says he ‘abandoned’ governance
Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan has slammed the ‘secrecy’ surrounding Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s foreign tour.
Mr. Satheesan claried that the UDF was not opposed to Mr Vijayan’s private visits abroad. However, the public has been perplexed by the lack of transparency surrounding these trips.
He said Mr. Vijayan had abandoned governance for 16 days. He had left behind a State reeling under a sweltering heat wave and water and power scarcity. There was a power vacuum at the Secretariat. Mr. Vijayan has not handed over the charge of the Chief Minister’s Oce to any Cabinet colleague.
Agrarian distress caused by heat-induced crop failure has beset the State’s farming sector. Sea swells inundated coastal neighbourhoods, further burdening shermen families disadvantaged by low catch, Mr. Satheesan said.
‘No Cabinet meeting’
He said Mr. Vijayan seemed oblivious that driving tests remained stalled due to the MVD’s contentious rules. More than nine lakh candidates were awaiting the tests and issuance of permits, including lakhs aspiring for a driving career in the country and abroad. The Cabinet has failed to convene due to Mr Vijayan’s truancy.
KPCC president K. Sudhakaran said Mr. Vijayan had left Kerala to forestall the party from deploying him for campaigning in West Bengal and Tripura. He said Mr. Vijayan was reluctant to ruªe Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s feathers and had scaled down his political prole nationally.
He also slammed the Chief Minister for not handing over the charge to a Cabinet colleague, terming the CM insecure.
CPI(M) State Secretary M.V. Govindan said Mr. Vijayan paid for the trip from his pocket. He said the Chief Minister was entitled to personal time with family after a season of hectic campaigning.