THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has claimed that state assistant protocol officer AP Rajeevan was among the recipients of iPhone gifts by the UAE consulate. Rajeevan was a personal staff member of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan when the latter was Home Minister in the VS Achuthanandan government.
The revelation has put CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan on the backfoot as he had alleged that Chennithala had received an iPhone as a gift from the consulate at the behest of gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh.
Chennithala said he attended the consulate function on an invitation. A lucky draw was held for the participants and the winners were given gifts like phones, air tickets and watches. Based on a request by the Consulate General, Chennithala distributed gifts to some of the participants. Chennithala's staff member Habeeb Khan received a watch as gift.
Chennithala, however, did not see any protocol violation in the gift presentation. The assistant protocol officer was responsible to look for protocol violations, if any. "But I do not blame him for receiving the gift because he did not ask for it," Chennithala said.
The Opposition leader said the police should launch a probe to trace the other recipients of the iPhone gifts. He has handed a complaint to the state police chief on this. Chennithala reiterated that he had not received the iPhone gift and would move legally against those spreading false campaigns.
'Govt's HC case absurd'
Chennithala said that the government has made a mockery of itself by moving the High Court against the CBI probe into the Life Mission project as it had earlier given sanction to the central agency to probe FCRA violations. Chennithala handed copies of the government order dated 13 June 2017 giving sanction to the CBI.
He said the government's petition in the HC challenging its own stand was ridiculous. According to Chennithala, the government moved against the CBI since it fears that the probe would lead to the Chief Minister.
The Opposition leader also said that the government's announcement on 50,000 jobs is aimed to sneak in party workers into government jobs.