Thiruvananthapuram: A few prominent young CPM legislators are not on the same page with party colleague and Minister for Public Works Department and Tourism, P A Mohammed Riyas, over his fiat that contractors should not tag along with MLAs while the latter arrives to meet him. Despite their objection, which conveyed a rift of sorts among the Marxist legislators, Riyas reiterated his stand that MLAs need not accompany contractors.
The minister asserted that there was nothing wrong in what he had stated.
Contractors and officials are indulging in many irregularities. The MLAs can come with complaints regarding lapses happening in the works in their respective assembly constituencies. However, it is not right to come up with issues related to other constituencies. There is nothing wrong in stating that MLAs should not become a party in such activities, Riyas said on Friday.
Riyas said that not even a single person criticised him over his stricture during the meeting of party legislators.
The minister told mediapersons that he would not retract from his stand just because it has triggered a controversy.
Meanwhile, A N Shamsheer, another CPM MLA, declined to react to the minister’s statement.
The explanation came in the wake of Riyas being slammed in the CPM legislature party meeting the other day.
Riyas’s statement in the assembly that MLAs should not come to see him in his office along with contractors had invited Shamsheer’s wrath. He lashed out saying that it is not for the minister to decide who should accompany them while coming to meet him.
The CPM legislature party meeting was held on Thursday in the absence of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Riyas is Pinarayi's son-in-law.
