Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has come under fire for going on a 16-day trip with his family. Attacking the chief minister, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) raised questions over the sponsorship of his tour amid the election season.
According to reports, Pinarayi is on a three-country trip with his family and left from the Kochi airport to Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore. The trip comes 10 days after Kerala went to the polls in a single phase on April 26. He is expected to come back to India on May 21.
Interestingly, Pinarayi's son-in-law and state public works minister PA Mohammed Riyas is, too, on a family vacation and left the country a few days back.
The BJP and Congress launched attacks on the chief minister over his private trip. Union Minister and BJP candidate from Attingal Lok Sabha seat, V Muraleedharan questioned the chief minister's absence as the state grapples with heatwave.
"Kerala CM with his son-in-law, who is also the state tourism minister, and his family are on a private tour abroad. I have no objection to CM's private trip. I want to raise some queries on which people of Kerala are worried," Muraleedharan said. "For the first time in the history of Kerala, there have been reports of people dying due to heat wave. At such a point, if CM is going abroad to enjoy beach tourism, he should answer some of the questions. One, he is going for 19 days without giving charge to anyone... Second, what is the source of income for these trips? As per their declared income, it is very minimal. So, who is sponsoring these trips? Third, CPI-M says that they are a party of the working class. How can the leader of a working-class party go on a luxurious trip abroad when people of the country and state are suffering from heat wave."
Congress leader K Muraleedharan said that the chief minister should explain the purpose of his foreign tour.
However, LDF convener EP Jayarajan defended Pinarayi. “Why are you making it a controversy? There is no breach of rules in his trip. Every time he follows the procedures while going abroad. He won’t do anything which should not be done. I had talked to him on his trip in the past days,” Jayarajan said.“Why do you want to know about the sponsor? Should we tell everything to the media?”
