Row over Mayor Arya Rajendran’s purported letter to the CPI(M) district secretary Anavoor Nagappan, allegedly seeking a list of party nominees to fill 295 vacant temporary posts in the Municipal Corporation.
Row over Mayor Arya Rajendran’s purported letter to the CPI(M) district secretary Anavoor Nagappan, allegedly seeking a list of party nominees to fill 295 vacant temporary posts in the Municipal Corporation.
Allegations of nepotism seem to have come back to haunt the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] even as its party’s leadership conclave is on for the second consecutive day at its State headquarters at the AKG Centre here.
The latest scandal to push the CPI(M) against the wall revolves around Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran’s purported letter to the CPI(M) district secretary Anavoor Nagappan, allegedly seeking a list of party nominees to fill 295 vacant temporary posts in the Municipal Corporation.
It also did not help the CPI(M) that the Mayor had packed off to join a national protest in New Delhi against the Centre’s alleged backdoor appointments.
An undercurrent of irony echoed in the anti-CPI(M) trolls, and sarcastic memes that swamped social media after the jarring accusation erupted in the public domain in Kerala, a State with one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
The scandal had sprung up days after youth ire forced the government to hastily backtrack on its decision to enhance the retirement age of State-run public sector unit employees to 60.
The 23-year-old Ms. Rajendran, who had gained national attention as the country’s youngest Mayor and a youth icon, came under withering attack from the opposition.
AICC general secretary, K. C. Venugopal, called for her resignation. He pointed out that the National Employment Exchange Act warranted the government reporting vacancies to the employment exchange, not the CPI(M).
Leader of Opposition V. D. Satheesan said Ms. Rajendran had thrown the Left’s much-touted meritocratic ideal to the wind. She lorded over a legacy of preferential treatment for CPI(M) nominees in government appointments, a hallmark of the second Pinarayi Vijayan government.
BJP State president K. Surendran said the CPI(M) ‘s nepotism in appointments had caused the patience of unemployed youth to wear thin. He warned the government to brace itself for aggressive street protests for the Mayor’s resignation.
The controversy thrust the CPI(M) into a fire-fighting mood. The party cast doubt on the authenticity of the ‘Mayor’s letter’ and Local Self-Government Minister M. B. Rajesh ordered the municipality to report the vacancies to the employment exchange as per norm.
However, it was unclear whether the measure would help stymie the opposition’s bid to turn the tide of public opinion against the CPI(M).
