Thiruvananthapuram | Kerala Chief Minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday dismissed reports that he had refused to meet leaders of the NSS, an organisation of the Nair community that has maintained a hard stand against him since before he became the CM.
Satheesan clarified that he had not denied an appointment to NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair and said reports claiming otherwise were incorrect.
"He had called my private secretary when my phone was not with me amid the preparations for the budget. When I was informed, I called him back, and we spoke cordially. He said we should meet as they had some things to tell me, and I assured him that we would. I told him we would meet," the CM told reporters at a press conference here.
Satheesan said he had been occupied with the budget that week and had not travelled anywhere.
"After the budget presentation, I saw some news reports claiming that he had said at an event that I did not give him an appointment. But I did not see him make such comments," Satheesan said.
However, Nair later disputed Satheesan's version of events at a separate press conference.
He told reporters that he had tried to reach Satheesan twice over the phone and that the latter had returned his call only after six days.
"When he called back, he did not ask why I had called or fix a time for us to meet. He simply said we would meet and ended the call. After two weeks, his private secretary called and said he would inform the CM. The private secretary also said the CM might not have called earlier because of budget-related work," the NSS general secretary said.
"The secretary said that Satheesan would meet me in Ernakulam. So, I told him I wanted to discuss a file concerning the NSS and the government. Since then, there has been no response from the CM's office," he added.
Nair said he was no longer interested in meeting the CM and described Satheesan's claims about their telephonic conversation as "lies".
"I had sought to meet the CM of Kerala, not Satheesan," Nair said.
"I am a voter, and I head an important organisation. That should be given some value. If a voter seeks to meet the CM, granting him time is a matter of democratic courtesy. I am not going to comment on others he has met," he said.
"None of the earlier CMs have ever behaved like this. If I call Pinarayi Vijayan, if he is free, he will speak; otherwise, he immediately sends a message saying he will call me back, and he does," Nair added.
He said he had not sought an appointment for any personal matter and had conveyed the same to the private secretary.
"We have never begged anyone for anything. So, we decided we no longer wanted to discuss that issue," Nair said.
Satheesan and Nair's responses came amid reports of differences between them on various issues.
Before the Assembly polls, Nair had on several occasions criticised Satheesan and had reportedly accused him of adopting "double standards" on religious issues.
Satheesan responded to allegations over his meeting with representatives of the Hindu Aikya Vedi, a right-wing outfit in Kerala.
"A former minister was heard saying that BJP leaders were coming in and out of the CM's office. Some leaders of the Hindu Aikya Vedi wanted to meet me. A couple of them have been very outspoken against me. Can I say I will not meet them? I gave them an appointment and met them during normal public dealing hours," Satheesan said.
"They met me and submitted a request. I heard what they had to say. On the previous day, various organisations that had protested against us came to meet me, and I heard their concerns as well," he added.
He said he was not the CM of the Congress and the UDF alone, but the chief minister of Kerala, and that it would be wrong to refuse to meet anyone who sought an appointment with him.
Satheesan said that even Thushar Vellappally, the national president of BJP ally Bharath Dharma Jana Sena and son of SNDP Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan, had come to his residence in Aluva to meet him.
"Can I say that Thushar Vellappally should not come to see me? I cannot say that to anyone who wants to meet me," he said.
"Kerala BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar came to my office and discussed several issues concerning his constituency. Should I not meet people's representatives and leaders of political, religious and community organisations? They all have issues relating to their organisations, sectors and communities to discuss," he added.
Satheesan said it was former minister P A Mohamed Riyas who had claimed that BJP leaders were coming in and out of his office, and asserted that he was not meeting anyone in secret.
"My reply to him is that I am not meeting anyone secretly, unlike (the former CM) Pinarayi Vijayan, who met RSS leaders at Muscat Hotel after travelling in a different car to avoid the media," he said.
Kottayam (Kerala) | NSS general secretary G Sukumaran Nair on Wednesday hit back at Union Minister Suresh Gopi over his recent remarks against the organisation's leadership, accusing the actor-turned-politician of making politically motivated comments and saying he "cannot do anything against the organisation."
NSS is an organisation of the Nair community in Kerala.
Talking to reporters in New Delhi on Sunday, Gopi, who also belongs to the Nair community, said Perunna, where the Nair Service Society headquarters is located, is "a great institution established in the name of our forefathers" and that there is an "organic cosmic law", under which its "purification will happen naturally".
Gopi made the remarks after Vice President C P Radhakrishnan unveiled a statue of NSS founder Mannathu Padmanabhan and inaugurated the Mannam Smrithi Mandapam in New Delhi at a function organised by the Delhi unit of the NSS.
Addressing a press conference at the NSS headquarters in Perunna in Changanassery near here, Nair said the actor-turned-politician should first "purify" the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) before talking about purifying Perunna.
He launched a sharp attack on Gopi, referring to a controversy over the minister's visit to the NSS headquarters in 2015. He alleged that Gopi had visited on the day of the organisation's budget meeting with political intentions.
He alleged that Gopi had visited the NSS headquarters to create the impression that the organisation was aligned with the BJP.
"Our meeting is as important to us as Parliament is. Is he an innocent child who knows nothing," Nair asked.
He claimed that Gopi had admitted on the very same day that he had made a mistake.
Dismissing Gopi's remarks against the organisation, Nair said that "those who have said they would finish off the NSS are the ones who have disappeared".
"We have never had any reason to worry. Gopi should first purify the AMMA organisation. He cannot do anything against the NSS," he added.
The NSS general secretary further alleged that Gopi had political motives in reviving the controversy and had unnecessarily dragged Vice President Radhakrishnan into it.
Referring to the controversy over the Vice President allegedly being denied permission to offer floral tributes at the memorial of NSS founder Mannathu Padmanabhan during his visit to Changanassery in February this year, Nair said the organisation had earlier received Radhakrishnan with due respect.
Justifying the decision, he said Mannam Samadhi was like a temple to them and that a security check involving sniffer dogs before a VVIP visit could not be allowed inside a temple.
On the Delhi unit's activities, Nair said it had no connection with the NSS and was merely an organisation registered and functioning in Delhi. "Nairs are spread across the world. They all come to Kerala, not to Delhi," he said.
At the same time, he welcomed the stand taken by BJP Kerala president Rajeev Chandrasekhar. He said the position adopted by Chandrasekhar in correcting Gopi and others reflected his sense of propriety.
Chandrasekhar on Monday dismissed reports of a rift between the BJP and the NSS, saying claims that the party was against its general secretary, Sukumaran Nair, were "false and factually incorrect".
He said the party held the Nair Service Society and its general secretary in high regard.