The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition walked out of the Kerala Assembly for the second time on July 9 accusing the State government of trying to hush up an alleged PSC membership-for-cash scam involving CPI(M) leaders in Kozhikode.
Moving a submission on the controversy that has dogged the Kerala government since last week, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan alleged that the Home department had attempted to suppress a complaint that a CPI(M) apparatchik had tried to sell a doctor in Kozhikode a Public Service Commission (PSC) membership, a political appointment made by the Cabinet and subject to approval by the Governor, for ₹60 lakh by accepting ₹20 lakh as an advance.
Mr. Satheesan claimed that the “wrongdoer” was not the “anonymous scammer with a fictitious identity” preying on unsuspecting persons remotely. He alleged the person under suspicion was a CPI(M) member who regularly rubbed shoulders with the powers that be and drew credibility from intimate and personal access to authority.
Mr. Satheesan alleged that the suspect had “name-dropped all of Kozhikode’s top Ministers and CPI(M) leaders” to gain the aspirant’s confidence.
He asked whether the CPI(M) had put up vacant PSC memberships for “public auction.” He said similar accusations had surfaced against the NCP and the JD(S), both key LDF allies. “Nevertheless, the government has no case”, he added.
Mr. Satheesan raised the spectre of “paid PSC member posts” imperilling the Constitutional agency’s credibility in the eyes of lakhs of candidates who have invested time, treasure and hope in preparing for PSC tests.
CM’s claim false: Satheesan
He said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s averment that no one had complained to the government or the party was false.
“The police have recorded the doctor’s statement. CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan has admitted that a party probe was ongoing. Still, Mr. Vijayan maintains that the matter is just fiction,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan countered that Mr. Satheesan’s attempt to “scandalise the government” hinged on media speculation and gossip.
He said successive Congress governments had increased the number of PSC membership posts to 21. “Payment scandals surrounding PSC member nominations had plagued past UDF governments. The LDF had contemplated whittling the number down,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan said Mr. Satheesan’s attempt to “orchestrate political theatre” would sully the PSC’s public image and undermine the Constitutional agency’s credibility. “The police would pursue any accusation that revealed a cognisable offence,” he added.
