Appointment of relatives: CPI(M) issues 'warning' to party MP, ex-Kerala minister

New Delhi: The CPI(M) on Wednesday issued “warning” to former Kerala minister EP Jayarajan and party MP PK Sreemathy over the controversial appointments of their relatives to various posts in government corporations.

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury said the party’s central committee took the decision on the basis of a report submitted by its Kerala state committee and explanation given by Jayarajan and Sreemathy.

“The two comrades have also given their explanation and expressed regret. On the basis the report and their explanation, the central committee has issued warning to them,” Yechury told reporters after the central committee’s meeting in New Delhi.

Asked why Jayarajan and Sreemathy have been issued only a “warning” when the party had in 2007 suspended Pinarayi Vijayan and V S Achuthanandan from the politburo for criticising each other in public, Yechury said that “past history is not the point to evaluate”.

Jayarajan had last year resigned from the council of ministers after a controversy erupted over the appointments of his relatives – Deepthi Nishad and Sudhir Nambiar – in Kerala Clays and Ceramics Products Limited (KCCPL) and Kerala State Industrial Enterprises Limited (KSIEL), respectively.

Nishad is the daughter-in-law of Jayarajan’s brother. Nambiar is the son of Jayarajan’s sister-in-law Sreemathy.

In the wake of the row, Nambiar’s appointment as director general of KSIEL was cancelled, while Nishad had resigned from her post in KCCPL.