“The chief minister is not a PRO (public relations officer). If there is anything important it will be informed,” the tough taskmaster in Pinarayi Vijayan responded thus to a question on the cancellation of traditional weekly press conferences by Kerala chief ministers, soon after he took charge of the Left government in Kerala this year.
This may not be music to the ears of many, including the media, but from being one of the least preferred candidates for the chief minister’s post prior to elections, Vijayan is slowly emerging as one of the most popular, even winning the hearts of his opponents. Some call him the Narendra Modi of Kerala, due to his style of leadership. On the 100th day of his government (September 2), Vijayan took a leaf out of Modi’s book by addressing the people of Kerala on the radio, through his own version of Mann ki Baat, and placing large advertisements in all the national newspapers.
Compared to his predecessors, Vijayan, who assumed office on May 25 this year, is considered to be pro-industry. “From appointing a neoliberal economist and Harvard scholar Gita Gopinath as economic advisor to engaging constructively with the Modi-led government at the Centre for developmental work, Vijayan is proving that he is pro-industry like Modiji,” said O Rajagopal, former Union minister and the only representative of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the state Legislative Assembly.
Gopinath’s appointment invited criticism from within the party circles, with former chief minister and strong Vijayan critic V S Achuthanandan writing a letter to the party central leadership against the move.
Vijayan, a handloom weaver and son of a toddy tapper, faced his biggest crisis at the helm of the state last month, when his trusted lieutenant and Industries Minister E P Jayarajan was accused of nepotism and this was followed by a vigilance investigation. There also, Vijayan emerged unscathed by forcing Jayarajan to quit, although he was Vijayan’s number 2.
“The incident proved that Vijayan and the government were against corruption and nepotism,” said Transport Minister A K Saseendran. “The move helped improve our image of being firm on these issues.” This comes at a time when a Bengaluru court delivered a verdict against former chief minister Oommen Chandy in a cheating case. Industrialist M K Kuruvila had alleged that a group of people, including a relative of Chandy, accepted a bribe of Rs 1.3 crore from him to let him set up a solar power project. Chandy’s regime was hit by controversies such as the solar sex scandal and the bar bribery case. Chandy did not take action against any of his ministers.
“From chief minister to finance minister, there were allegations against everyone in that ministry. Hence, the Left Democratic Front’s victory was not a vote in favour of them, but a vote against Chandy, as people were fed up with corruption,” Rajagopal said.
Although Vijayan’s tenure so far has set no innovative benchmarks, he has taken a few right steps from the point of view of industry. Land bottlenecks in the Rs 3,000-crore GAIL pipeline projects were resolved. The inauguration of Kochi Metro has a deadline of June 2017. Kannur is to be launched as an international airport next year. The Vijayan government has also announced the commissioning of the Vizhinjam seaport project by 2019, dropping objections against it. The state’s share in the project comes to around 67 per cent, or Rs 5,071 crore, with the Adani Group investing Rs 2,454 crore. His government also takes the credit for the Rs 747-crore Kochi Water Metro project, which will be on track by 2018.
“Kerala is the first high-density populated state in the country that is open defecation-free,” Saseendran said. “We have revived the smart city project, which will create one million job opportunities in the state. In addition, we have launched welfare pension schemes. However, it is too early to gauge our performance on the industry front.”
The appointment of rival Achuthanandan as the chairman of the Kerala Administrative Reforms Commission with Cabinet rank also scored some brownie points for Vijayan.
Bleeding Kannur
But a black mark on Vijayan’s tenure so far has been law and order. “About 80 political murders, seven in Vijayan’s constituency alone!”
But a black mark on Vijayan’s tenure so far has been law and order. “About 80 political murders, seven in Vijayan’s constituency alone!”
Rajagopal said. “He is answerable for this. He is unable to control the CPIM (Communist Party of India-Marxist) party machinery. Their strategy is to annihilate the BJP and the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sngh). In Kerala, the police is controlled by the CPIM. This is Vijayan’s weakest link.”
There is another danger lurking on the horizon: the SNC-Lavlin case in which a verdict is expected. When Vijayan was the state power minister, a hydroelectric infrastructure contract between the Indian government and the Canadian company SNC-Lavalin in 1995 allegedly resulted in a loss of Rs 374 crore to the exchequer.
However, his admirers believe Vijayan, who has had the longest term as secretary of the party, will recover from that crisis as well. While critics charge that he is inaccessible, his supporters reiterate, “He is not a PRO. The CM is at work.”
Disclaimer: These are personal views of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect the opinion of www.business-standard.com or the Business Standard newspaper
