Thiruvananthapuram Corporation Mayor Arya Rajendran, on Sunday, November 6, denied that she wrote, signed or sent any letter seeking a "priority list" of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) cadres to be appointed in temporary posts in the civic body and said that she has given a complaint to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan requesting a probe into the matter.
The letter, addressing CPI(M) district secretary Anavoor Nagappan as ‘comrade’, containing the official letter head of the mayor and her signature, kicked up a huge political controversy in Kerala with the opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanding her immediate resignation.
Speaking to reporters in Thiruvananthapuram, Arya said that she met the Chief Minister and handed over a complaint to him requesting a probe into the origin of the letter and who all were behind it. She added that at first glance, the letter appears to be edited. "Whether the letter or the letter head or the signature is fake, original or forged has to be ascertained in the inquiry. This is the reason I gave a complaint to the CM requesting for an inquiry into how the letter came into existence and what was the motive behind it," she said.
The young mayor also said that she suspects it to be a politically motivated move by those who have been campaigning against her and the party for some time. Arya also brushed aside demands for her resignation by the opposition Congress and BJP by terming the same as a ‘joke’. "There have been demands for my resignation ever since I was appointed as mayor. I cannot keep resigning," she said. The mayor added that she has nothing to hide and therefore, she does not need to play hide and seek over the issue.
"I am a representative of the people and it is to them that I am primarily answerable," she said.
Meanwhile, CPI(M) state secretary MV Govindan in a press conference here told reporters that when the mayor has clarified that she did not write or send the letter, there was no need for the party to intervene in the matter. He, however, said that it can be examined as to who wrote that letter and made it public.
Both Govindan and Arya also said that CPI(M) never had the practice of inducting party workers in this fashion through the backdoor and will not ever do so in the future. The CPI(M) state secretary also said that the minister concerned has already said that the 295 vacancies mentioned in the purported letter would be filled up through the employment exchange and that is the procedure that the state government has been following.
State Minister for Local Self-Governments MB Rajesh told reporters earlier in the day that the 295 vacancies would be filled up through the employment exchange.
The letter under controversy seems to be purportedly written by Arya to Anavoor Nagappan seeking a ‘priority list’ of candidates for appointment on daily wage basis in the local body.