Kerala legislator KT Jaleel targets Lokayukta: ‘Would do anything for money’
Former Kerala minister KT Jaleel on Sunday posted a controversial message on social media casting aspersions on Lokayukta Justice Cyriac Joseph, who is also a former Supreme Court judge. Jaleel was forced last year to resign from the Pinarayi Vijayan government after the Lokayukta found him guilty of nepotism in appointments.
Jaleel’s post, on Facebook, comes amid a controversy over the Kerala government’s plan to curtail the powers of anti-corruption body Lokayukta through an ordinance.
The former minister, without taking any names, alleged that the Lokayukta “will do anything for money and position” and the Congress-led UDF was using him as a weapon to stab the CM in the back.
He also alleged that in 2005 a senior UDF leader was saved from a controversial case when he was a judge in the high court and in turn he managed a plum post for his sister-in-law. He was indirectly referring to the appointment of Jancy James as vice chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam.
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Jaleel wrote: “The Lord, who had bargained the post of the MG University VC for his own brother’s wife for rescuing a UDF leader from a sensational case, would do anything, if he gets adequate reward.”
“It is a tragedy that a weapon meant for Gandhiji is getting into the hands of Godse. If he gets good returns he will do any job. When three central agencies gave me a clean chit in a trumped-up case, he appeared all of a sudden to weaken the government,” he wrote, talking about his own case.
Jaleel, referring to the proposed amendment in the Kerala Lokayukta Act which would reduce the orders of the quasi-judicial body to an advisory, also said the people of the state would have scant regard for the demand that Lokayukta’s orders be binding on the government.
On the ordinance, the opposition has alleged that it is aimed at containing the political fallout in the event of the Lokayukta passing adverse orders on complaints against CM Vijayan and higher education minister R Bindu.
