Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Assembly Speaker AN Shamseer declined the privilege motion moved by legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan alleging that there was a breach of privilege by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan during discussions in the House regarding the 'mentor controversy' involving his daughter.
The Speaker said that on perusal of the breach of privilege motion moved by the Congress MLA and the CM's reply to the same, it was clear that Vijayan had not made any misleading statement.
The motion was moved against the CM for his allegedly "misleading" statement in the Assembly about the reported connection between Jaik Balakumar, a director of a global consultancy firm, and his daughter Veena's IT company.
The opposition United Democratic Front had claimed that Vijayan had stated on the floor of the House that there was no connection between his daughter and a particular person, one of the directors of the corporate firm which was involved in the appointment of Swapna Suresh, a key accused in a major gold smuggling case, in a state-run project.
During the discussions on an adjournment motion moved by the Opposition over the gold smuggling case, Kuzhalnadan had claimed that a director of an international consultancy firm, who was allegedly linked to an accused in the gold-smuggling case, was the mentor of Vijayan's daughter.
As the discussion concluded, the Chief Minister expressed his displeasure at the mention of his daughter and her company and attacked Kuzhalnadan, claiming that he was telling a "blatant lie."
The next day, the Congress MLA contended that he stood by what he had said as it was based on information gleaned from a web archiving portal.
The Congress MLA from Muvattupuzha had displayed a screenshot of the website of Exalogic, the company of CM's daughter, to prove his point that the consultancy firm's director was a mentor and guide to the promoter of the firm who was none other than Veena.
Clean chit to Jaleel
A similar clean chit was given to LDF MLA K T Jaleel in connection with a controversial social media post on Jammu and Kashmir and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
In the second matter also, it was Kuzhalnadan who had written to the then Speaker in August seeking action against Jaleel for violation of code of conduct by his remarks.
Shamseer ruled that on perusal of the LDF MLA's reply to the complaint, it was clear that it was just a regular Facebook post and that there was no violation of the code of conduct by Jaleel.
In a Facebook post during his visit to the Kashmir Valley on August 12, the MLA had said, "The part of Kashmir annexed to Pakistan was known as 'Azad Kashmir' and it was an area where the Pakistan government does not have direct control."
Jaleel, who was a minister in the previous CPI(M)-led LDF government, had said "India-occupied Jammu and Kashmir consists of parts of Jammu, Kashmir Valley and Ladakh."
He later withdrew the controversial Facebook post, but a case has been registered against him on the directions of a Kerala court for his controversial post.
(With PTI inputs.)