Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition leader VD Satheesan has raised sharp criticism against former minister KT Jaleel after his remark on Lok Ayukta triggered a controversy.
Jaleel’s statement reveals the LDF government’s open challenge to the judiciary, alleged VD Satheesan.
“The LDF government tried to bring an ordinance to amend Lok Ayukta act for interrupting the case against Chief Minister and former Higher Education Minister. Both cases are considered by Lok Ayukta. When this attempt failed, the government brought KT Jaleel as a ‘chaver’ (suicide warrior) to criticise Lok Ayukta. As Jaleel is someone who faced action from Lok Ayukta, he won't hesitate to attack it. Jaleel’s stance declares that if the court issues a judgment against any LDF leader, the government will take similar action,” said VD Satheesan in a press statement.
Pinarayi government is a very intolerant one. Those who resorted to a cyber attack against cultural activists who opposed the SilverLine project are attacking the judiciary without any sense of justice. Jaleel’s remark is a warning against Lok Ayukta for restricting action against CM, added VD Satheesan. He also demanded Chief Minister to respond to the row.
KT Jaleel, who had to resign from his ministerial post due to an observation from Lokayukta, has come out against the Lokayukta and former Supreme Court judge Justice Cyriac Joseph.
In a social media post, Jaleel said that Kerala Lokayukta is a person who will stoop to any level to support the Congress-led UDF and added that he (Joseph) was the person who had helped bail out a senior UDF leader during his stint as the Kerala High Court Judge. Jaleel in the post said that the Justice had bargained hard with the then UDF government for appointing his sister-in-law as the Vice-Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University.
(with added inputs from IANS)
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