Kerala Opposition terms CM's statement on allegations against health department preposterous

The opposition Congress in Kerala on Sunday termed as preposterous Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's statement that allegations that have cropped up against Health Minister Veena George's office are part of a conspiracy.

Leader of Opposition in the state assembly V D Satheesan commented that if there were indeed a conspiracy, it is the Left front itself that it would have emerged from.

Chief Minister Vijayan had on Saturday claimed that a clear conspiracy was behind the allegations that cropped up against Health Minister Veena George's office and that the media reports in this regard were part of the plot.

The CM's remarks came a day after Akhil Sajeev, the suspected kingpin in the alleged job fraud and bribery case in the Kerala Health department, was caught by the state police from Theni in neighbouring Tamil Nadu.

The bribery allegations, which cropped up against a personal staff of Health Minister Veena George, triggered a huge row in the state recently.

In a statement today, Satheesan said the role of those who are protecting Sajeev should also be investigated.

"Who is Akhil Sajeev? CPI(M) leaders have said that he had committed fraud when he was the CITU district committee office secretary. He still has connections with CPI(M) leaders," Satheesan alleged.

Satheesan also alleged that when such truths come out in the open, the chief minister is putting forth a conspiracy theory before the party workers.

"The chief minister's justification that there was a conspiracy behind the bribery allegations against the health minister's office and blaming it on individuals and the media is preposterous," Satheesan said.

He alleged that those who were arrested and absconding belong to the chief minister's party and the Left front and if there was any conspiracy, then 'it would be from the Left front itself'.

Vijayan had said yesterday that the 'attempt was to project a falsehood as truth and the method of the conspirators was to hide the facts and create a smokescreen'.

"But the allegations didn't survive long and the mastermind of the alleged job fraud was caught red-handed by the police," Vijayan had said on Saturday at Kannur.

"False stories were made against the health department, which was functioning in a flawless manner in the state," the chief minister had said.

The allegation was that a key person in the office was involved in corruption but the story became a flop as soon as it came to light that he was not in Thiruvananthapuram on the day mentioned in the complaint, he had further said.

Sajeev had been absconding ever since bribery charges cropped up against a personal staff member of Health Minister Veena George for the appointment of a medical officer recently.

The Health Minister's office had rejected the allegations against the personal staff member, Akhil Mathew, and lodged a complaint with the Thiruvananthapuram city police, seeking a detailed probe into it.

Sajeev, also accused in another fraud case being investigated by the police, is a former office secretary of CITU, the trade union wing of the CPI(M), in Pathanamthitta.

The alleged job fraud, in connection with appointments under the health department, came up recently after Haridasan, who belongs to Malappuram, charged that Mathew, the personal staff member of Health Minister George, accepted a bribe from him for the appointment of his daughter-in-law as a medical officer.

The Thiruvananthapuram city police had arrested M K Raees, a resident of Kozhikode, two days ago in connection with the case. He was arrested for allegedly creating a fake email id related to temporary appointments in the Ayush Mission, police said.

Haridasan had alleged that a personal staff member of the minister accepted Rs 1 lakh as bribe for the appointment of his daughter-in-law as a government medical officer.

Haridasan had further charged that a former office secretary of CITU in Pathanamthitta, who allegedly acted as a middleman, had also accepted a bribe for the said appointment. However, his daughter-in-law didn't get the job.

As the allegations triggered a huge political row in the state, Mathew approached the police seeking a probe into the matter.

The police registered an FIR under IPC Sections 419 and 420 (cheating) based on the complaint by Mathew.