Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has strongly defended his decision to appoint Harvard professor Gita Gopinath as his Economic Adviser. “I am grateful to all those who seem to be concerned about the LDF government losing its Leftist character,” Mr. Vijayan said, taking a dig at those who sought to trigger a debate on the subject.
“This is the problem with our State. Some can see only the negative side of everything. In any case, nobody has any doubt about her credentials. What you must, therefore, monitor is whether we are deviating from the LDF’s election manifesto or whether we are being influenced by right wing ideology,” he said.
Mr. Vijayan said he had no knowledge about former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan having written to the party national leadership opposing the appointment of Ms. Gopinath as his Economic Adviser.
Party State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had exposed reports that the decision was taken keeping the party in the dark the other day with his statement that the decision was taken by the party State secretariat. “This vigilance about me is admirable,” he said and added that whether or not to accept the advice to be given by Ms. Gopinath would be decided when they come.
Backs Kodiyeri
The Chief Minister said there was nothing wrong in Mr. Balakrishnan’s speech in Kannur the other day as it was not intended to foment violence. His speech had not resulted in any violence and he had made it clear that he did not intend to trigger any violence, Mr. Vijayan said.
