THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Amid questions over transparency and accountability surrounding his recent chartered flight to flash flood-hit Malappuram, a visibly annoyed Chief Minister V D Satheesan lashed out at reporters, justifying his acceptance of private favours on the grounds that it saved public money.
He maintained that he was under no obligation to disclose who paid for the flight, brushing aside questions about the identity of the private individual who footed the bill. The chief minister made it clear that he would undertake similar chartered journeys in the future as well.
“What is wrong with that? I will travel again if required,” Satheesan said. He said he had a list of ministers and chief ministers from previous governments who had travelled on privately arranged aircraft, and maintained that he saw nothing improper in it.
The Chief Minister’s defence, however, handed fresh ammunition to the opposition, with the CPM accusing Satheesan of violating his oath of office by accepting a privately sponsored flight for an official visit. CPM state secretary M V Govindan questioned why the CM was unwilling to disclose the identity of the person who paid for the journey.
CM defends ministers’ foreign trips
Addressing a post-cabinet news briefing, Satheesan said he was scheduled to attend the Sree Narayana Guru Samadhi Day programme at Sivagiri on September 21. After the death of six people in the Malappuram incident, he said, he needed to reach the site that day. As there was no other way to get there in time, “a person known to us arranged a flight”, he said. Satheesan added that had he not travelled to Malappuram, “the news that evening would have been that even though six people had died, the chief minister had not bothered to visit”.
Rejecting claims that the Disaster Management Fund financed his trip, Satheesan said, “That money is for helping the poor, not for the chief minister’s air travel,” insisting that not a single rupee was spent on his journey.
He also defended Local Self-Government Minister K M Shaji’s use of a friend’s luxury car, saying the vehicle allotted to him was bought in 2017 and several ministers were still using vehicles nearly a decade old. “What is wrong with him travelling in a friend’s vehicle?” Satheesan asked, adding ministers had used private vehicles in the past with official permission.
Satheesan also defended ministers’ foreign trips sponsored by diaspora groups or other organisers, saying there was nothing wrong with such arrangements if the government incurred no expense. He said he had encouraged ministers to travel abroad to study developments and interact with the Malayali diaspora.
Such trips were undertaken with his permission. “If a minister is invited to an event and the organisers buy ticket, the sky is not going to fall,” he said.
