Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan on Tuesday denied the Communist Party of India (Marxist)’s [CPI(M)] accusation that the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government had ceded executive authority to “Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)-controlled” Keralam Governor Rajendra Viswanath Arlekar mutedly.

“The government has strongly protested the Governor’s summoning of the State Police Chief (SPC) without informing or seeking the government’s consent. It is not the first time Lok Bhavan has summoned department heads without the government’s approval. It has happened several times during the Left Democratic Front (LDF) dispensation,” he said.

Mr. Satheesan said conspicuous absence of the Union Minister for Ports and Shipping at the commencement of export and import operations from the Vizhinjam international seaport had nothing to do with the UDF’s decision not to render Vande Mataram in full at the Independence Day celebrations. “Some urgent official matters had constrained him in keeping his official appointment at Vizhinjam,” he said. 

Mr. Satheesan said he could not comment on whether Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan had not marked his presence at Vizhinjam due to political differences. “Mr. Vijayan and the CPI(M) are the best placed to answer that question,” he said.

Football team visit

Mr. Satheesan said the government would soon frame the terms of reference for the impending investigation into the GST department’s finding that the firm which promised, and subsequently whipped up public anticipation, all in vain, to sponsor the Argentine football team and its captain Lionel Messi’s visit to Keralam for an exhibition match in Kochi in 2025, had defrauded the exchequer of ₹22 crore in service tax on foreign remittances ostensibly made to the Argentine Football Association.

Mr. Satheesan denied that the Jamaat-e-Islami and the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) were the actual “powers behind the throne” in the UDF government. “The UDF government is not in thrall with any religious or caste organisation, and it shall not bend the knee to any extraneous power or group,” he added.

Mr. Satheesan denied CPI(M) State secretary M.V. Govindan’s accusation that the arrest of his “close confidante” and Youth Congress leader Muhammad Hussien on synthetic drug peddling charges had retarded Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala’s anti-narcotic drive, “Operation Toofan.” Mr. Satheesan said he was not keen to revisit the controversy repeatedly. “I have stated earlier that as a person in public life, for the past several decades, I have interacted with hundreds of persons of varied political hues and personal orientations. That does not indicate collusion in any crime,” he added.

Published - August 18, 2026 07:58 pm IST