THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister A K Balan took to Facebook to say that he and his government looks at Padmashree Lekshmikutty Amma, who is a famous for her tribal medicine from the Vithura panchayat, with great respect and love.

He added that he had personally called up Lekshmikutty Amma on winning the award and also posted about her in Facebook. “I had also mentioned about her in my Republic Day speech in Palakkad,” he said.

Balan also said that, as a response to Sabarinathan MLA’s submission at the Assembly, he had praised Lekshmikutty Amma for her achievement on behalf of the government.

He clarified that he only said that the Central Government did not give due consideration for the list of Padma Award nominees submitted by the state governemtn even though all the nominees had cleared all the criteria the Centre had mentioned for the award.

Balan also clarified that he said that if the Centre could consider a list of nominees from nowhere after not even taking the list submitted by the state government for its face value, then magic and palmistry could also be considered in future for the awards.

“And I was joking when I said I would suggest my own name if palmistry could be considered for the award. There is a section in the Assembly website to mention the special interests of each MLAs, and I’ve mentioned that mine is magic and palmistry. The opposition leader took notice of this and asked me a trick question for which I gave a funny reply, and the entire Assembly enjoyed it,” he said.

Minister Balan also pointed out that the opposition leader had asked to express the protest by the state government against the unjust selection of nominees for the Padma Awards by the Centre, along with substantiating documents.