The participation of a public relations professional, Smitha Menon, in an event for foreign ministers in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has turned to be an embarrassment for the BJP Kerala unit when the party was seeking the resignations of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the gold smuggling case and Minister for Higher Education K.T. Jaleel for protocol violations.
The controversy surrounded the alleged breach of protocol by Minister of State for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan for helping Ms. Menon to participate in the the 19th meeting of the Council of Ministers of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) held in Abu Dhabi in November last.
Incidentally Ms. Menon is also the State secretary of the Mahila Morcha, an affiliate of the BJP.
The issue cropped up after Saleem Madavoor, president, Loktantrik Yuva Janata Dal, brought a complaint to Prime Minister's Office (PMO) on the participation of Ms. Menon at the conference of foreign ministers of the IORA, an organisation of 22 member-countries and 10 other dialogue partners. He had also sought to conduct an inquiry on the “breach of protocol” by the Minister.
However, Mr. Muraleedharan and State BJP president K. Surendran had clarified that no violation of any protocol had been committed in this regard. Also, Ms. Menon had clarified that she had attended the meeting as a mediaperson and that too on her own expenses to report the event.
Putting up a sturdy defence, Mr. Surendran also went on to clarify that he had recommended her name for the post in Mahila Morcha and that more professionals would be included into the BJP and its feeder outfits. He said that Ms. Menon belonged to a Sangh Parivar family.
Notwithstanding these damage-control exercises, the issue has given the anti-Muraleedharan camp in the BJP to whip up overtly and covertly the controversy. Except Mr. Surendran, no prominent leaders from the rival camp, came out in support of Mr. Muraleedharan.
The episode emerged when the BJP was intensifying its agitation against the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) government with much-clamoured slogans of anti-corruption on various fronts, including the gold smuggling case.
