Palakkad: Presenting a bouquet wrapped in plastic sheet to local self-government minister MB Rajesh during the inauguration of the newly constructed Kuthanoor panchayat office building has ignited fresh controversy. ₹55 lakh was allotted from the infrastructure development fund for the construction of the building when AK Balan was the department minister. PP Sumod MLA of LDF was the chairman of the organising committee while the panchayat is ruled by Congress. Meanwhile, no one seems to understand whether the minister’s criticism for presenting him with a plastic wrapped bouquet is aimed at PP Sumod or the ruling Congress. 

Former minister AK Balan, PP Sumod MLA, block panchayat president TK Devadas and district panchayat member Abhilash Thachangad who attended the event also received bouquets that were wrapped in plastic sheets. Meanwhile, LDF members are miffed that the minister rejected the plastic wrapped bouquet and also criticised it on stage. 

“Didn’t notice the plastic wrap”
Kuthanoor panchayat president PT Sahadevan said that the bouquet that was presented to Minister MB Rajesh was brought from the flower market in Palakkad. He claimed that he didn’t notice the plastic wrap as the bouquet was taken out on the stage. Five bouquets were ordered for the program and they were brought neatly packed in a carton. Sahadevan stated that the carton was opened only after the minister arrived at the venue. The bouquets were wrapped using a flimsy plastic sheet to secure the flowers and to prevent the thorns of the rose flowers from pricking the person’s hands. Amid the chaos, the organisers didn’t think about removing the plastic wrap before presenting it to the minister. Meanwhile, the minister, in his inaugural address, mentioned to avoid such usage of plastic. Although he said it lighter mood, the minister ended his speech by instructing the authorities to not repeat such actions again. Sahadevan suspects that the incident was blown out of proportion by some people with vested interests to diminish the importance of the occasion. 

Minister MB Rajesh, while inaugurating the Kuthanoor panchayat building office, had said that the officials should read the rules and regulations released by the local self – government department regarding the usage of plastic and that ₹10,000 could be fined for using plastic wrapped bouquets that have been banned according to the green protocol. He also criticised the act of presenting it to the minister of the department that is supposed to implement such rules. The minister had earlier stated that books or handicraft items made by students of BUDS schools should be presented to the chief guests attending public events.