Thiruvananthapuram, March 14 (IANS) The decision of the Nair Service Society (NSS) to dissolve its Pathanapuram Taluk Union has pushed Kerala Minister K. B. Ganesh Kumar into the centre of a fresh controversy, coming close on the heels of a public marital dispute that had already drawn political attention ahead of the Assembly elections.

The Minister was the president of the now dissolved Union, a post which his father, the veteran late politician R.Balakrishna Pillai, held.

The development assumes significance as Ganesh Kumar is expected to contest again from the Pathanapuram Assembly Constituency seat, which he has represented since his electoral debut in 2001.

The NSS registrar dissolved the Pathanapuram Taluk Union after the committee reportedly lost its majority following the resignation of several members, amid allegations of autocratic functioning by the union leadership.

Reacting strongly to the move, Ganesh Kumar said he did not understand why he was removed even after he had expressed willingness to submit his resignation.

He maintained that NSS general secretary G. Sukumaran Nair remained a father figure to him and vowed that he would never oppose him.

At the same time, the minister alleged that the developments were politically motivated and linked to attempts to gain control of the union’s assets.

“My father started the Pathanapuram NSS Taluk Union with the most modest of beginnings and nurtured it over 64 years. What we are seeing now is an attempt to take control of those assets,” he alleged.

Rejecting corruption allegations, the minister said he had handled crores of rupees while serving in government departments and had no reason to accept bribes.

“Even when I was a pre-degree student, I drove an air-conditioned car. As a film actor, I travelled in a Mercedes-Benz at a time when even the superstars here did not own one,” he said.

Ganesh Kumar also denied allegations of financial irregularities in the construction of the ‘Padma Cafe’ at the union headquarters in Punalur, dismissing the charges as baseless.

The controversy erupted days after the minister made headlines when his wife publicly accused him of maintaining an extramarital relationship before later withdrawing the allegations and announcing that she had forgiven him.

With the Assembly elections round the corner, the twin controversies, the personal row and the turmoil within the NSS unit he headed have added an unexpected political dimension in Pathanapuram, a constituency that Ganesh Kumar has held for more than two decades.

–IANS

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