BJP slams ‘external cooperation’ secretary appointment by Kerala government; nothing new says Chief Secretary

PTI, Jul 21, 2024, 9:30 AM IST

Thiruvananthapuram: The BJP in Kerala on Saturday slammed the LDF government for giving an IAS officer additional charge of matters connected with ‘External Cooperation’ and termed it as an appointment of a “foreign secretary of the state”, while the Chief Secretary said it was nothing new.

Attacking Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the development, BJP state president K Surendran said the Marxist veteran should not consider the southern state as an independent country.

Shortly thereafter, Kerala Chief Secretary Venu V, in a Facebook post, said that the External Cooperation was in existence for some time and was created for better coordination with delegates coming to the state from other nations.

He said the state government has not issued an order appointing a foreign secretary as it was not ignorant of the fact that foreign affairs were the domain of the Centre.

He said that many foreign agencies, multilateral agencies, institutions working in embassies of other countries and delegations regularly contact the Kerala government and other state governments.

When the CM or ministers from the state go abroad and hold discussions there, representatives of those countries come to Kerala and to deal with them was the responsibility of different departments earlier, he further said.

However, as the number of such discussions increased, the need for better coordination was felt and therefore, a division called External Cooperation was created for that purpose.

Principal Secretary, Industries, Suman Billa was given the responsibility of that division in 2023 prior to which former OSD Venu Rajamony had that charge, the Chief Secretary said in his post.

After Billa went to Central services, the responsibility of that division was handed over to K Vasuki who is the Secretary of Labour and Skills Department, Venu said in his post.

He said the state government did this to establish new relations for the development of Kerala and not to engage in diplomatic relations with foreign countries or interfere in matters falling under the jurisdiction of the central government.

The Chief Secretary termed the news about the appointment of a foreign secretary by the state as “fake” and part of a “recent trend” to create and spread “anti-government” propaganda.

Earlier in the day, BJP state president Surendran termed the handing over of charge of External Cooperation to Vasuki as appointment of a “foreign secretary of the state”.

He contended that it was “unconstitutional” and a “flagrant violation of the federal principles”.

Vasuki was by a government order dated July 15 given the additional charge of “the matters connected with the External Cooperation”.

The July 15 order further said that the General Administration (Political) Department will deal with the subjects related to external co-operation and will assist Vasuki till alternate arrangements are made.

“The Resident Commissioner, Kerala House, New Delhi will support the officer in the matters of External Co-operation, to liaise with the Ministry of External Affairs, Missions and Embassies etc,” the order said.

In his statement criticising the order, Surendran made a scathing attack on Vijayan saying that if things go forward like this, “the CM will feel that he needs his own consulate and foreign minister”.

He said that External Affairs falls in the domain of the Centre and the state government’s move to intervene in it sends a bad signal to the country.

The BJP state chief also said that Vijayan was facing allegations of gold smuggling through diplomatic channels and carrying out fund collections abroad.

He questioned whether the “foreign secretary of the state” was appointed to support Vijayan’s alleged financial relations in Gulf nations.

Surendran called for immediately revoking the appointment as it “was destroying the unity and integrity of the nation”.

The BJP leader also said that such appointments would only serve to accelerate the collapse of the state which is in severe financial crisis.