Kozhikode: As an explanation to the controversy on the appointing of minister’s relatives, former minister P.K Sreemathy MP said that she appointed her daughter-in-law with the knowledge and approval of the then CPM state secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan. On her FB page, Sreemathy said that she had kept silent on the issue which broke out during her tenure as the health minister, to protect the party.
“The party secretary had conveyed the party decision to appoint three persons at the minister’s residence according to choice. Hence my daughter-in-law was appointed. When the degree holders among the staff were elevated to a gazetted post, she was also included. That was a mistake. It was not uncommon to post minister’s kin as staff. But I was targeted and attacked by the media. My daughter-in-law is not receiving government pension as was being alleged,” she wrote in her post.
Sreemathy’s son Sudheer Nambiyar’s wife, Dhanya was appointed as the cook and it had courted controversy in the previous LDF rule. But in the post, Sreemathy kept a studied silence on the present controversy regarding Sudheer Nambiar. Later, the post was withdrawn.
