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Benny Thomas, former panchayat president of Ulikkal and general secretary of the Kannur District Congress Committee (DCC), has stepped down from the post of additional private secretary to Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph.
His resignation comes in the wake of widespread criticism against his induction over nepotism allegations. Benny Thomas is the brother-in-law of Sunny Joseph.
Benny's resignation letter was submitted to Kerala Chief Minister VD Satheeshan on Sunday, June 7.
Sunny Joseph said the resignation was a personal decision of Benny Thomas as he did not want the party and him to be criticised over the appointment.
The minister had earlier justified the appointment stating that it was made not because he was his sister’s husband but because he is a good social worker and a Congress politician. He also had stated that the United Democratic Front (UDF) had no issues with this appointment and many leaders had supported it.
Chief Minister VD Satheeshan, when asked about the criticism surrounding the appointment of Benny Thomas, had stated that he was aware of it and would comment after examining the details.
MV Jayarajan, a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), in a Facebook post alleged that this was “not the first such appointment” made by Sunny Joseph and that nine of his relatives and a driver received appointments in cooperative institutions and other organisations in the past..
The UDF was heavily critical of the Left Democratic Front (LDF), when they were in power, over appointments made by former ministers EP Jayarajan and KT Jaleel of their relatives.
In 2016, EP Jayarajan, who was the Industries minister, had to resign after being accused of appointing his nephew PK Sudheer Nambiar as the Managing Director of the state-run Kerala State Industrial Enterprise. He also drew flak for appointment of Deepthi Nishad, his brother’s daughter-in-law, as the General Manager of Kerala Clays and Ceramics Products Ltd.
Jayarajan was however inducted again as a minister in 2018.
KT Jaleel was accused of appointing his nephew KT Abeeb as the General Manager of the Kerala State Minority Development Finance Corporation. In 2021, Jaleel had to resign as minister for Higher Education after being indicted by the Lokayukta for violating the oath of office and securing public resources for personal gains.
The article was written by a student interning with TNM.
