THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan once compared CPM secretariat meetings to an ‘oppana’, the traditional wedding dance performed around the bride, where the dancers would sing, clap and tease her from all sides. The late leader made the remark to his additional secretary Suresh Kumar and it will now find a place in his soon-to-be-released memoir ‘VSnu Oppam Ente Dinangal’ (My Days With VS).
Congress leader K Sudhakaran will release the book by handing over a copy to retired High Court judge Kemal Pasha in Thiruvananthapuram on June 6.
Suresh claims in the book that CPM leader and former finance minister T M Thomas Isaac lashed out at VS during a party secretariat meeting. Isaac vented his ire on the CM for convening a review meeting in connection with the Supreme Court cases against fraudulent lotteries operated in Kerala. Isaac, being aware of its purpose, did not attend the meeting, and no further action followed.
Later, VS told Suresh Kumar that Isaac criticised him in the secretariat meeting for interfering in the functioning of the lotteries department under him. VS was pained by Isaac’s coarse language against him at secretariat meetings, Suresh alleges.
The book comprises eight chapters covering Suresh’s tenure as lottery director, his stint as additional secretary to VS, and his role as special officer during the Munnar eviction drive.
“This is a sincere and candid memoir. I decided to write the book because my late father had asked me to write about my experiences while working with VS. In May 2016, VS called me to Cantonment House. After our discussion, he told me that I had accumulated many experiences in public service, including during the Munnar, lottery and education stints.
He advised me to write a book without holding anything back and to let the public know everything,” Suresh says. He also reveals that he and VS’s former IT adviser Joseph C Mathew prepared letters for Achuthanandan during his campaign against the then CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan over the SNC-Lavalin controversy. “After the accountant general’s report was submitted, VS wrote to the politburo on July 25, 2005, demanding an inquiry into the SNC-Lavalin issue. That letter was prepared by Joseph C Mathew. However, party general secretary Prakash Karat told the media that the party would consider the matter, if necessary, after the CAG report was tabled,” he writes.
“After the report was tabled, Joseph C Mathew and K M Shajahan came to my house and conveyed VS’s message that I should prepare another letter to be submitted to the politburo,” he adds.
According to Suresh, the documents handed over by Shajahan included current files and file notes from the power department that were not available to the accountant general.
“Shajahan told me that these documents had been handed over to VS by KSEB chairman and forest department head T M Manoharan,” he added.
Though the book criticises the roles played by former revenue minister K P Rajendran, former forest minister Binoy Viswam and CPM leaders M M Mani and S Rajendran, it is particularly critical of former Devikulam Sub-Collector Rathen U Kelkar, who is now secretary to Chief Minister V D Satheesan.
Suresh alleges that although two task forces working under the then sub-collectors Rathen U Kelkar and Mohandas were part of the special office under him, they issued notices to occupants of small huts and roadside kiosks, demanding land-related documents and thereby creating fear among local residents.
“This was carried out under the secret instructions of the then revenue principal secretary Nivedita P Haran. After suspicions arose that these actions were aimed at sabotaging the eviction process, I asked Nivedita Haran to stop the activities of these task forces,” he writes.
