THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The opposition slammed chief minister
Pinarayi Vijayan for not handing over his duties to other ministers during his 15-day trip to the US. Deputy leader of
Congress legislature party and MLA K C Joseph sought clarification from the government on this issue.
Joseph alleged that the chief minister was not ready to hand over his duties to his cabinet colleagues since he did not trust them. He has openly stated his lack of faith through this gesture, said Joseph.
The Congress leader said as per the business rules a minister has to hand over the charge to another minister if he/she goes abroad. Now, the health minister, who accompanied the chief minister during his visit to the US, had handed over her duties to education minister C Raveendranath.
However, the chief minister – who oversees 27 departments under his portfolio – did not follow this example. This meant that no decision-making would be possible during his absence.
The routine practice for a chief minister would be to handover the charge to a minister and convey this to the governor. On getting the governor’s approval, the same has to be issued as a government notification.
“But, Pinarayi Vijayan was not ready to delegate his power to any of his cabinet colleagues and this has caused an administrative standstill in the government secretariat,” he said.
