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Benny Thomas, Additional Private Secretary to Electricity Minister Sunny Joseph, has resigned connected the heels of the governmental contention arising from allegations of nepotism successful his appointment.
Mr. Thomas, who is the brother-in-law of Mr. Joseph, submitted his resignation to Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan connected Sunday. Mr. Joseph confirmed that his APS has stepped down.
Mr. Thomas’s assignment was possibly the archetypal contention to hound the caller Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) authorities successful Kerala. His resignation comes up of the State Legislative Assembly league resuming connected June 19.
A autochthonal of Ulikkal, Kannur, and a district-level Congress functionary, Mr. Thomas was included connected the archetypal database of 13 appointments to the Electricity Minister’s idiosyncratic staff, sparking a governmental row. Raising the issue, the Opposition Left Democratic Front (LDF) had stepped up its onslaught wrong and extracurricular the Assembly.
The Electricity Minister had initially defended the appointment, describing Mr. Thomas — a erstwhile president of the Ulikkal grama panchayat — arsenic an upright governmental worker. According to him, Mr. Thomas’s sanction was recommended to the station of Additional Private Secretary by the president of the Kannur District Congress Committee. Mr. Thomas had besides acted arsenic the UDF’s main predetermination cause successful Peravoor wherever Mr. Joseph contested successful the 2026 Assembly polls.
