CM Pinarayi Vijayan puts foot down

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s strong stand and party central committee’s directive to act tough led to E P Jayrajan’s exit from the Cabinet on Friday.

The nearly three hour long crucial state secretariat meeting at the party headquarters AKG Centre began with a statement by Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on the entire appointment row which had been raging for the past one week.  Chief minister pointed out that he  had taken a unyielding stand on the issue right from the beginning because of seriousness of the matter. He pointed out that resignation was the only option left before the minister.

Other secretariat members also agreed with the chief minister’s view. Jayarajan explained his position and said he would not like to cling to power by bringing further embarrassment to the LDF Government.  He also pointed out that the two persons shortlisted by the agency that had been  entrusted with the task of selecting the probables, had declined to join . It was under these  circumstances that Sudheer was chosen for the managing director’s post.

However, the secretariat members felt that the decision to appoint Sudheer who is a close relative of Jayarajan and son of P K Sreemathy, MP, could not be justified in any way. Sreemathy also admitted lapses on her part at the meeting.

Prior to the secretariat meeting, chief minister, CPM state  secretary and Jayarjan held separate discussions. It was during the course of this meeting that the two top leaders of CPM tried to bring Jayarajan around to the decision of resignation. He was told that resignation was the best option for honourable exit in the given circumstances.

Sources said Pinarayi was particularly upset since his clearance or vigilance clearance had not taken for appointing Sudheer. As per existing norms, the clearance of vigilance is mandatory to appoint people to the post of managing directors.

Jayarajan’s excuse was that since two shortlisted persons had backed out at the last moment, there was no time to seek clearance from vigilance. The plan was to seek vigilance clearance after the appointment. However, most secretariat members were not ready to buy his theory.