Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 2 (PTI) The BJP has criticised the removal of Sriram Venkitaraman as Alappuzha district collector, accusing Kerala’s Left government of “succumbing to the pressure of organised forces.” Barely a week after he took charge, the Left government late on Monday transferred Venkitaraman, who is an accused in a road accident case that resulted in the death of journalist K M Basheer in 2019, from the post of Alappuzha District Collector and appointed him as the General Manager of Kerala State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd.
BJP state president Surendran alleged that the government kneeled down before organised forces and it sent out a wrong message.
“Removing him from the post (of Alappuzha district collector) due to pressure from a section of people is a cowardly act. The government kneeling down before the organised forces sent out a wrong message.
He was reinstated in the service. Now it’s not justifiable to say that he will not be allowed to work,” Surendran said in a Facebook post, hours after the Kerala government removed Venkitaraman.
Meanwhile, Kerala Muslim Jamaat welcomed the state government’s decision to remove Venkitaraman as Alappuzha district collector.
V R Krishna Teja IAS is the new collector of the coastal district.
Venkitaraman was appointed as the collector of Alappuzha on July 24. He had taken charge on July 26.
The state government had come under attack from the opposition Congress-led UDF, journalists unions and various Muslim outfits for appointing Venkitaraman in the post with magisterial powers.
Last week, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had justified the decision, saying the appointment was part of his service as an IAS officer.
During various stages of his service, he had to be assigned different responsibilities and this was one of them, Vijayan had told reporters.
He had also said there was no lapse on the part of the government in taking forward the case against the IAS officer. PTI RRT ROH ROH
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