476 vs 787 under Pinarayi: Satheesan rejects claims of large-scale staff appointments

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday rejected media reports alleging that the CM and other ministers had appointed a large number of personal staff.

Satheesan said the current government had so far appointed 476 people to ministers’ personal staff, compared with 787 appointments made during the previous Pinarayi Vijayan government.

“My personal staff currently has 31 members. More people can still be appointed as per the law,” Satheesan said at a media briefing after the Cabinet meeting.

He said ministers had been instructed to limit their personal staff to a maximum of 25 members and claimed that none of the ministers in the present Cabinet had exceeded the limit.

“Many ministers have not appointed as many people as they need. They are still in the process of making appointments,” he said.

Satheesan also pointed out that some ministers in the previous Cabinet had 27, 28 or even 29 members in their personal staff.

On the appointment of staff to the Chief Whip, Satheesan said the previous Chief Whip had 28 staff members, while the present Chief Whip had appointed 16. He said the figures contradicted claims that the current government had made an unusually large number of appointments to ministers’ personal staff.