CMO vetoes appointment of private secretary to minister Antony Raju

Thiruvananthapuram: The assistant private secretary of Transport Minister Antony Raju has been removed from the post within a month of assuming charge after the ruling party vetoed the appointment.

It is understood that the omission of PK Sreevalsakumar from the minister's staff comes on the recommendation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Sreevalsakumar had been a member of the staff of former minister Kadakampally Surendran in the previous LDF government. He was removed from Surendran's staff after allegedly intervening in the functioning of another department.

Though it is understood that the order was cancelled as it did not have the approval of the chief minister's office, the general administration department has claimed that the initial order had been erroneously issued.

The LDF government has been extra vigilant when it comes to appointing staff since the Thiruvananthapuram gold smuggling episode, in which former principal secretary of the chief minister M Sivasankar is one of the accused.

As a result, even though it has been two months since the government retained power, most of the ministers are yet to complete the selection of their staff.