Amidst a raging fight between the Nair Service Society (NSS) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF), S. Sujatha, daughter of the NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair, on Monday resigned as a Syndicate member of the Mahatma Gandhi University.
According to Mr. Nair, the decision to resign from the post was aimed at avoiding controversies in the future. “While it was the UDF government that first nominated my daughter to the university Syndicate, the LDF government retained her place in the panel. Both the governments had nominated her to the committee as an educationist based on her qualifications,” he said.
Asserting that neither he nor his daughter ever approached any government or political leader for the nomination, he said she had been serving as Principal of the NSS Hindu College, Changanassery. “She has been a member of university Syndicate for the past seven years and has got three more years to complete the term. However, to avoid any controversy regarding her nomination, she has tendered her resignation on personal grounds,” Mr. Nair said.
The resignation came close on the heels of a scathing verbal attack unleashed by the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam general secretary Vellappally Natesan against Mr. Nair earlier in the day. Talking to the media, Mr. Natesan cited the Syndicate membership of Ms. Sujatha to highlight the privileges that Mr. Nair had allegedly received from the LDF government.
Besides Mr. Natesan, CPI(M) leader A.K. Balan too on Monday raised criticism against the anti-LDF stance adopted by the NSS general secretary during the recent Assembly elections.
The Nair community organisation has been locked in a bitter battle with the LDF since the Sabarimala women entry issue and it hit a crescendo during the recent elections. The war of words snowballed into a full-blown battle on the polling day when Mr. Nair remarked that the people expected a change for the good.
The LDF found the statement essentially oppositional that forced a reply with the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Mr. Balan reacting sharply to it.
