Thiruvananthapuram: Minister PA Muhammad Riyas who had recently upset a set of colleagues by telling them to not accompany contractors for ministerial meetings has found the backing of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
The CM recollected an incident from his time as minister for electricity, which seemed to support Riyas's statement issued in the State Assembly the other day that later upset fellow CPM leader AN Shamseer.
"When I was the power minister, an MLA visited me with a contractor and I told him that it wasn't his job," said Pinarayi Vijayan here on Wednesday.
He added that the CPM did not have a different opinion on the matter.
Earlier, CPM acting-state secretary A Vijayaraghavan had also rallied behind Riyas. However, the CM had not addressed the matter until now.
Riyas, who is the minister for PWD and tourism, had refused to back off after his colleagues were critical of the statement. He later said that he had only discouraged MLAs from accompanying contractors from constituencies other than their own.