Vigilance probe, a collective decision: CM

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, AUG. 6. The Kerala Chief Minister, Mr. A. K. Antony, today sought to quell rumours about divisions within his Cabinet and to silence critics by stating that the decision to order a Vigilance inquiry into leakage of a Cabinet note on granting minority status to new self-financing engineering colleges was not his alone but that of the entire council of Ministers.

Referring to the former Chief Minister, Mr. K. Karunakaran's charge that the decision to order an inquiry into the leakage amounted to lack of trust on his own colleagues, Mr. Antony said it had been a collective decision. ``The Cabinet felt the need to identify the person leaking out information as it is important that the leak is plugged at the very beginning itself.''

Mr. Antony urged the media not to blow things out of proportion and drive a wedge between him and the senior Congress leader, Mr. Karunakaran. ``There are no differences between us, and please do not create any.''

As for the controversy surrounding payment of Rs. 31 lakhs for chartering a flight from Delhi to Kerala in the mid- 1990s to be sworn in as Chief Minister of the State, Mr. Antony said he would take up the matter with the Congress president as it was the party which had sanctioned the flight.

Insisting that he had not received any notice to make the payment, Mr. Antony sought to dismiss the controversy that has been kicked up over the issue in view of the Delhi High Court order asking many a politician to pay for chartering flights. ``Why should the Kerala Government pay when it was a party decision to charter a flight for me?''

Mr. Antony, who was in the Capital to discuss developmental projects for Kerala and finalise the annual plan, today met the Union Ministers for Agriculture, Railways and Power.

From the Union Agriculture Minister, he got a sanction of 5,000 tonnes of rice for the tribals and the plantation labourers who have been rendered helpless by the recent floods in the State. Also, the Agriculture Minister assured Mr. Antony that Nafed would begin procurement of copra before Onam.

Apart from demanding extension of the rail network in Kerala, Mr. Antony urged the Railway Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, to restore rail traffic in the Kadalundy area as soon as possible. Mr. Kumar is said to have assured him that Kadalundy would get a new track by the end of September. The Centre has decided to run two special trains from Nizamuddin and Mumbai to Malabar to ease the Onam rush.

In the power sector, the State has got an assurance from the Union Minister, Mr. Suresh Prabhu, that the Memorandum of Understanding with Kerala on power reforms would be signed before August 20.

Our Kozhikode Bureau adds:

The Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr. M. M. Hassan, while addressing a press conference today, absolved the Ministers of any responsibility in the leak of the Cabinet notes.

The Minister was speaking at a meet convened here to brief presspersons about `Samawayam-2001', a global meet, being

organised in Kochi from August 20. He said the meeting was being held in order to enlist the support of non-resident Keralites and making them participants in the development process of the State.

The two-day meet will be inaugurated by the Chief Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony. The Minister of State for External Affairs, Mr. Omar Abdulla, will preside.

In all, 1,000 persons including representatives of 75 organisations besides select NRI entrepreneurs are expected to participate in the meet.

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Section  : Southern States
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