Kerala Higher Education Minister KT Jaleel resigned today, a setback for Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s administration, days after the state Lokayukta found him guilty of “nepotism, misuse of authority, and favoritism” and declared that the “minister could not stay in his role.”
Mr Jaleel, who is also the state’s Minority Welfare, Waqf, and Haj Minister, announced his resignation on social media, but also called out a supposed “media syndicate,” as well as the Congress and the Indian Union Muslim League, for a “two-year witch hunt” against him.
“As a symbol of political honesty, I have forwarded my resignation to the Chief Minister even as the petition against the Lokayukta order is before the Kerala High Court,” he wrote on his Facebook page. In the meantime, Mr Jaleel has filed a lawsuit against the Lokayukta’s study in the Kerala High Court.
His resignation comes in the midst of a tumultuous election season in the state, with polling beginning on April 6 and results expected on second May.
“The decision taken by KT Jaleel to amend the requirements for the position of General Manager in the Corporation to include ‘BTech with PGDBA’ also as a requirement for the post of General Manager was to make the 5th respondent, who is his second cousin, fit for the post of General Manager,” according to the report by Justice Cyriac Joseph, the Lokayukta, and his deputy, Justice Harun-Ul-Rashid.
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress, however, questioned the delay in his resignation.
Mr Jaleel was previously investigated as a “person of concern” by three central agencies in connection with the gold smuggling case and for suspected duty evasion and breaches of the Foreign (Contribution) Regulations Act in connection with consignments of dates and copies of the Holy Quran smuggled by the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
