Has CM Satheesan lied about his helicopter ride to Kochi? CPM is certain

The CPM seems to have sourced enough fuel to keep the 'helicopter controversy' airborne from Chief Minister V D Satheesan's assertion the other day that he had used the rented helicopter to meet investors and not for personal use.

"It was said that he flew to meet an investor whose name could not be revealed. We have a Chief Minister who cannot survive without telling at least one lie a day," CPM state secretary M V Govindan said on Tuesday. "Who is this secret VIP investor? We were told that the investment possibility would vanish if the name was revealed. Yet another lie. The Chief Minister is trying to mask facts by repeated lies," Govindan said.

Former industries minister P Rajeeve said it was suspicious that the CM flew to meet investors without taking anyone with him. "There is enough space in the helicopter. The industries minister and the Chief Secretary could have been taken along. The aircraft has four or five seats. Now, this has only heightened the suspicion," Rajeeve said, indicating that there is nothing official about a CM flying alone without an official entourage.

"Normally, when any minister travels, there will be a programme list. Now, even if we assume that the CM had met an investor, where did the meeting take place? Keep the name of the investor under wraps. But wouldn't the place where the meeting took place have a name? That is missing," the CPM Central Committee member said.

Rajeeve also wondered whether anyone would come to Kerala if an impression gets around that investors were a group who secretly visited Kerala and behaved in suspicious ways. The former industries minister said that in his time an investor usually sought an appointment. "We had a programme called Meet the Investor. We met the investor at my office and he would be asked to present his proposal to a group involving all the secretaries, KSIDC chairman and Kinfra MD. If we find a proposal suitable, a nodal officer would be appointed to take it forward," Rajeeve said.

He admitted that there were instances when the reverse had happened; the minister seeking an appointment with the investor. "Once, Tata had told us that they were not in a position to fly down for the next three months. So we took an appointment and went to meet them," Rajeeve said.

Govindan gave the 'helicopter controversy' an emotional charge by quoting from a post written by the daughter of a man lost at sea. Search has been on for the girl's father (John) for the last five days. Govindan called the post "a chargesheet against the government a daughter penned with her tears."

Govindan quoted the child as saying that the Chief Minister considered it so important to meet his father-in-law that he travelled in a helicopter, but the government did not seem too keen to bring back her lost father. "And then she asks: 'What if the tragedy happened in the Chief Minister's house?'. This is a chargesheet against a government a daughter penned with her tears," Govindan said.

Like Rajeeve, Govindan too gave the helicopter ride an air of mystery. "We are still not told what unspeakable deal the CM has struck by travelling in a helicopter," he said.

He also said there was no information about a VIP investor in official records, suggesting that the CM was lying. As if to make the point that Satheesan is a 'repeat offender', Govindan referred to the 'chartered flight' controversy that had dogged Satheesan before he was chosen as the Chief Minister. "Earlier it was in the name of Aryadan Mohammad's relative that Satheesan had travelled to Mangalore to meet Adani and BJP leaders," Govindan said.

The CPM state secretary also refuted the Chief Minister's statement that former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had used a helicopter to fly to a CPM conference in Thrissur in 2018 and billed it to the State Disaster Relief Fund. "Pinarayi did not travel to the CPM conference in a helicopter. He took one from Thrissur to meet a central delegation who arrived in Thiruvananthapuram to assess the Ockhi damage," he said.

Nonetheless, Govindan conceded that the bill was first included as part of disaster relief. "But we cancelled the order and included it in the GAD (General Administration Department) fund," Govindan said.