Champion athlete and current President of the state Sports Council, Anju Bobby George has lodged a complaint against Kerala’s minister for Industries and Sports, Mr. E. P. Jayarajan to the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. According to her statement, the minister, who assumed office only two weeks back after the Left Democratic Front’s (LDF) return to the helm of the state government has harassed and threatened Anju and several other members of the Council when they recently came together for their first customary meet.
It has been less than a week since the accused minister found himself at the receiving end of a huge uproar across the country when he spoke of deceased Boxing Legend Muhammad Ali as Kerala’s own gold-medal winning sportsperson. With the latest allegations adding to his disrepute, Mr. Jayarajan could be in for stricter consequences as the Chief Minister has accepted Anju’s complaint and reassured her of taking proper action on the matter.
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Calling the Sports Council members including President George and Vice president T. K. Ibrahim Kutty corrupt and anti-Left, Jayarajan promised to fetch them sinister consequences, now that his party is in power. He also questioned Anju’s high flight fares for travelling between Bengaluru and Thiruvananthapuram which clearly indicate widespread corruption within the ranks of the Sports Council.
Speaking to The News Minute, the gold medallist in Long Jump at the 2005 IAAF World Athletics Final clarified that her travel expenses had been sanctioned by a Government Order issued by the Finance Ministry.
“When a minister is appointed as the Head of a Department, he should have some minimum knowledge about the working of the department,” she said.
It is a shameful aspect that a Sports Minister does not possess minimal knowledge pertaining to his field as Mr. Jayarajan has already proven. On top of that, his manifestation of personal resentment through disruption of the Council’s functioning by neglecting major issues and rejecting transfer requests of the employees for no good reason can be significantly detrimental for the whole state of Kerala at large.
