Countering Chief Minister V.D.Satheesan’s claim that the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government was supposed to submit the list of possible candidates for the Vice-Chancellor (VC) in charge of Mahatma Gandhi University, Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan said that the previous VC’s term ended only after the UDF government took charge.

“The previous VC’s term ended on May 31, two weeks after the UDF government took charge. The UDF government was supposed to give the list of possible candidates to the Governor, which it failed to do. The CM hid this fact in his press conference,” said Mr.Vijayan, while addressing a press conference here on Sunday.

The UDF government has been facing flak for the appointment of a leader of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) teachers’ union as the Vice-Chancellor in-charge of Mahatma Gandhi University and the nomination of several pro-Sangh Parivar persons as members to its Senate

‘Misleading statements’

Mr.Vijayan said that the CM had also made misleading statements regarding the meddling of Governors in Kerala’s higher education sector. The CM had said that the Governor has been appointing pro-Sangh Parivar people in the universities even during the LDF’s term. “As soon as the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, it started attempts to bring the central universities under its control. Later, in 2018, they began making such attempts in the State universities also. Since then, the LDF has been fighting back strongly by making laws, taking legal measures as well as in the streets against the Sangh Parivar’s attempts through the Governors. The UDF had opposed the State government in all of this. However, after the UDF came to power, a change has come about as the government and the UDF political leadership have taken a stand that they are not ready for a confrontation with the Governor. The UDF has surrendered itself completely to the Sangh Parivar’s stance,” he said.

Regarding Mr.Satheesan’s alleged journey in a chartered flight to meet an official of the Adani Group and NDA leaders during the Assembly election, he said that as long as the CM does not bring clarity on what was discussed, a cloud would remain over the alleged meeting.

Mr.Vijayan said that the issue over the appointment of K.B.Pradeep, a lawyer who represented a Chennai-based company which is among the accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case, as the Devaswom Special Government Pleader would not die down with his resignation. “The appointment raises doubts whether it is part of a ploy to scuttle the gold theft case. With the Devaswom Minister making it clear that he wasn’t aware of the appointment, the CM has the responsibility for it. An investigation should be carried out to see whether the lawyer handled any documents related to the case during the short period he held that post,” he said.

The UDF government’s claims on PM SHRI raises doubts whether it is taking a U-turn from its earlier stand on the scheme. The LDF government had decided not to proceed with the scheme, he said. Mr.Vijayan reiterated the CPI(M) State secretary M.V.Govindan’s statement that failure to more forcefully call out Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan’s communally charged invective against the Muslim community sowed resentment among the minority community against the LDF government.

Hitting back at CPI State secretary Binoy Viswam’s comment that the CPI(M) should introspect whether certain unwanted elements got close to the party when it was in power, he said that the CPI leader should first investigate whether such persons were part of the departments which were under the party’s control. He said that the UDF government and the Forest Minister have been lax in handling the spate of wildlife attacks in the State, despite six deaths reported in three weeks.