‘Sponsored programme’: CPM targets Satheesan over chartered flight, ministers’ trips

Kochi: CPM leader P Rajeev has stepped up criticism of the Congress-led UDF government over Chief Minister V D Satheesan’s chartered flight to rain-hit Malappuram and the foreign trips of some ministers.

Rajeev alleged that the government was functioning as a “sponsored programme” and accused it of favouring corporates and capitalists. His remarks came amid a political row over who funded Satheesan’s chartered flight and the cost of ministers’ overseas travel.

Rajeev questions chartered flight sponsor

Rajeev, a CPM Central Committee member, alleged that Satheesan had not disclosed who sponsored the chartered aircraft used for his visit to Malappuram.

“The chief minister's journeys are extremely mysterious. He is hiding who sponsored the chartered flight,” Rajeev told reporters in Kochi.

He also claimed that the sponsor of a flight used by Satheesan for a visit to Mangaluru before he became Chief Minister had not been disclosed.
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CPM targets ministers' foreign trips

Rajeev also criticised the recent foreign trips of ministers Ramesh Chennithala and O J Janeesh.

Taking a dig at the ministers, he compared the government’s approach to that of Emperor Nero, alleging that people were facing hardships while those in power were enjoying private trips.

Rajeev also alleged that Chennithala’s recent US trip was sponsored and criticised the use of a luxury Range Rover as the official vehicle of LSGD Minister K M Shaji.He accused the ministers of “abuse of power” and alleged that the government was not functioning in the interests of the people.
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Government defends chartered flight

The controversy over Satheesan’s flight began after he travelled by a chartered aircraft to assess the situation in rain-hit Malappuram on Monday.

The Chief Minister’s Office said the flight involved no 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 police helicopter it had previously been using.

UDF leaders defend ministers' travel

KPCC president and state minister Sunny Joseph said on Monday that the foreign travel of UDF ministers had not cost the Kerala government anything.

Sports Minister Janeesh said ministers were entitled to travel overseas as long as their official duties were not compromised and taxpayers’ money was not used. He also defended his personal breaks, saying he was 37 and would occasionally take short personal trips.

LDF convenor and former minister T P Ramakrishnan, however, questioned whether ministers could justify foreign travel simply by saying that it was not undertaken at government expense.

(With PTI inputs)