THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Power Minister Sunny Joseph has maintained a strict silence in the assembly despite the opposition raising a controversy over the appointment of his brother-in-law to his personal staff. The row stemmed from the appointment of Benny Thomas, a Congress leader and the minister’s brother-in-law, as his additional private secretary.
As Chief Minister V D Satheesan was away attending the swearing-in ceremony of Karnataka CM D K Shivakumar, Sunny was replying on behalf of the government in the assembly.
Varkala MLA V Joy, while moving an adjournment motion on the mass transfer of government employees, raised the controversy in the house. While Sunny spoke to oppose the adjournment motion, he offered no explanation regarding his relative’s appointment.
On the issue of official transfers, Sunny countered that these were routine transfers. He read out the stand taken by the previous government on such transfers and produced a list of transfers of Congress union members that took place during the LDF regime, adding that the UDF policy would not be that of the LDF.
However, Leader of Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the employees were being transferred out of political vendetta. “Employees are being handpicked and transferred based on requests from pro-government service organisations. Those with only a few days left until retirement are being moved to distant locations, and action is being taken even over social media posts,” the opposition charged. Protesting the refusal to suspend assembly proceedings to debate the issue, the opposition subsequently staged a walkout.