CPM attacks VD Satheesan over chartered flight to rain-hit Malappuram
The CPI(M) on Tuesday stepped up its attack on Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan over his chartered flight to rain-hit Malappuram and the alleged sponsorship of foreign trips by ministers. Senior party leader P Rajeev accused the Congress-led UDF government of turning into one “of corporates and capitalists”.
The remarks came amid a row over Satheesan’s use of a chartered aircraft on Monday to travel to Karipur airport in Malappuram district and review the situation in rain-affected areas. The Chief Minister’s Office said the flight did not involve any spending from the state exchequer and that the journey was necessary because of the emergency and because the government had not renewed the contract for the helicopter it had been using.
Speaking to the media in Kochi, Rajeev, a CPI(M) Central Committee member, alleged that Satheesan was withholding details of the person or entity that paid for the chartered aircraft. “The chief minister’s journeys are extremely mysterious. He is hiding who sponsored the chartered flight,” Rajeev said. He also claimed that the “sponsor” of a visit to Mangaluru undertaken by Satheesan before he became chief minister had still not been disclosed.
Rajeev also targeted ministers over their recent foreign visits. In an apparent dig at Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Sports Minister O J Janeesh, he said that while people were suffering without electricity, those in power were behaving like Emperor Nero, and asking why they should not enjoy their private moments.
“This government is functioning as a sponsored programme. This is not a government of the people. It has become a government that fully accepts the generosity of corporates and capitalists and works for them,” he alleged.
He further alleged that Chennithala’s recent US trip was sponsored and said another minister was using a luxury car, referring to the controversy over Local Self-Government Department Minister KM Shaji’s use of a Range Rover as his official vehicle. “The ministers in this government are indulging in abuse of power,” Rajeev alleged.
Satheesan’s use of the aircraft had earlier drawn criticism from the CPI(M)’s student wing, the SFI, which alleged that the trip was sponsored and asked for the identity of the sponsor. Responding to criticism over UDF ministers’ foreign trips, KPCC president and state minister Sunny Joseph said on Monday that the travel had not cost the Kerala government anything. Janeesh said Cabinet members were entitled to travel overseas as long as they did not compromise their official duties or use taxpayers’ money.
Defending his personal breaks, Janeesh said he was 37 and did not intend to “act old or rigid”, and added that he would occasionally take short personal trips. LDF convenor and former minister T P Ramakrishnan, however, questioned whether ministers could justify foreign travel simply by saying it had not been undertaken at the government’s expense. - EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 22, 2026 13:32 IST
