Kerala Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan is facing mounting political pressure over a privately arranged chartered flight he used to reach flood- and mudslide-hit Malappuram district earlier this week. The aircraft flew him to Karipur airport so he could assess rain damage, and his office has insisted the trip cost the state exchequer nothing. According to the government, the flight became necessary because the contract for the helicopter previously used for such trips had not been renewed. Congress leaders have said the plane was provided free of cost by a Malayali well-wisher, with party spokespersons naming former Karnataka minister K. J.
George as the sponsor. Satheesan himself has refused to publicly name the benefactor, saying the person is not someone who will seek favours in return. At a Cabinet briefing he pushed back sharply, arguing that his predecessor Pinarayi Vijayan and other chief ministers, including Oommen Chandy, had also flown on privately arranged aircraft without disclosing who paid. The chartered trip is reported to have cost around Rs 25 lakh, which has fuelled further scrutiny. The CPI(M)-led opposition has seized on the issue, demanding full transparency on who arranged the aircraft, why it was offered and whether procedures were followed before accepting it. The controversy has been bundled with other questions over ministers’ sponsored foreign trips, including Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala’s family visit to the United States. Local Self-Government Minister K.
M. Shaji has also drawn criticism for using a friend’s luxury Range Rover bearing a government number plate for official travel. The DYFI, the CPI(M) youth wing, has launched a satirical campaign of drawing competitions across the state inviting people to imagine the face of the mystery sponsor. CPI(M) leaders have accused the UDF government of serving corporate interests and of abandoning the transparency standards the Congress demanded while in opposition. The government’s line in each case is that no public money was spent, while the opposition is trying to shift the debate from cost to propriety. The row has come to dominate Kerala’s political conversation and is shaping up as a key test for the young UDF administration.