Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s four-day visit to the UAE, which was scheduled from 7 May , has been cancelled, as the Central government has not given its permission for the same.

The Chief Minister was scheduled to visit the Gulf country between May 7 and 11 to take part in an investment meet at the National Exhibition Centre in Abu Dhabi and a couple of other events. The CM was also supposed to interact with Indian expatriates at the Abu Dhabi-Kerala Social Centre on May 7.

Advertisement

The Ministry of External Affairs has informed the state government that there is no need for the Chief Minister and Ministers to attend such a meeting and instead send an official team. A 9-member team consisting of  the Chief Minister, Ministers P Rajeev, PA Muhammad Riaz and Chief Secretary VP Joy was proposed to visit the UAE

UAE Minister Dr Thani Ahmed Al Seyudi invited the Chief Minister and ministers to the UAE. The inappropriateness of foreign countries directly inviting the Chief Minister and Ministers, is learnt to have led to the denial of permission for the trip.

Meanwhile, KPCC president K Sudhakaran on Thursday sought an explanation from the state and the Centre governments on the denial of  permission to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his proposed UAE visit.

In a statement  in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, Sudhakaran said that there seemed to be some mystery surrounding the manner in which the Centre had denied permission to Pinarayi Vijayan’s visit  to the UAE and some clarity  is necessary in the matter.

Stating that this is the first time in the history of Kerala that a Chief Minister has been denied permission to travel abroad, Sudhakaran said If the Centre has blocked the Chief Minister’s foreign travel without sufficient reasons, it is tantamount to insulting Kerala

The Congress Kerala chief pointed out that  a clarification in this regard is  necessary as the Chief Minister, who usually reacted vociferously to any highhandedness by the Centre, had been conspicuous in his silence in this matter.

Sudhakaran recalled that it was in 2016 December, during his visit to the UAE, that CM Vijayan forgot to carry one of his bags, which was later taken to him by the then Principal Secretary M Sivsankar with the help of a UAE Consulate employee Swapna Suresh, who in now an accused in the diplomat baggage gold smuggling case. The bag was scanned and found to be full of currency, he said . Central agencies are conducting an investigation in this regard.

He said  during his visit to Kerala last month, the Prime Minister had also mentioned about the gold smuggling in Kerala which took place  in the state. He demanded that the Centre and  the state  government should clarify whether this was the reason for stopping the Chief Minister’s visit to the UAE.

He said that while the UAE was hosting an investors’ meet to attract investments in that country, it was not really clear what the Chief Minister hoped to achieve in the UAE. It is suspected that the Chief Minister is participating in the investment meeting organized by the UAE government with some other investment agenda, he said

Stating that the state government had already spent over Rs.1.25 crore for the event, Sudhakaran sought an explanation from  it on how it had spent the amount for the event for which the Chief Minister does not have permission to attend.