THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister V D Satheesan has strongly defended his decision to travel on a flight arranged by a private individual to reach Malappuram following a mishap, stating he had not spent any government money on his flight or helicopter journeys.
The CM asserted that he will continue using such private facilities to ease the strain on the state exchequer. He was responding to reporters' queries during a post-Cabinet media briefing.
Satheesan also defended cabinet colleague KM Shaji’s use of a friend’s vehicle after his official car, purchased in 2017, broke down. Satheesan said there was nothing wrong with ministers travelling in vehicles arranged by friends or accepting travel tickets from organisers, noting that ministers and chief ministers had done so in the past.
The Chief Minister also defended ministers' foreign trips on sponsorships, saying he himself had endorsed such travels. He said ministers should travel abroad to learn new things and interact with the Malayali diaspora.
Meanwhile, Satheesan once again blamed the termination of the long-term power purchase agreement during the previous LDF government's tenure as one reason for the ongoing power crisis.