Keralam Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Rajeev Chandrashekhar on Thursday accused the Congress of double standards on student-related issues, saying that while the party was organising ‘Chhatron Ki Goonj’ in Tamil Nadu, Public Service Commission (PSC) rank holders in Keralam were still waiting for jobs amid alleged mismanagement of recruitment by the state government.
The rank holders have been staging a protest in front of the Secretariat for more than 100 days, demanding appointment orders for all eligible candidates on the LPST rank list before its expiry, the transfer of appointments to aided-school teaching posts to the PSC, an end to alleged cash-for-job practices in recruitment, and a reduction in the teacher-student ratio to 1:25.
Chandrashekhar said many Malayalee youths who have been sitting in protest for the last several months have been denied jobs because of the mis-governance of the PSC, which has been “captured by vested interests like the CPM.”
Chandrashekhar led a three-member team that met President Droupadi Murmu on Thursday and requested that the President refer the former governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar’s recommendation regarding the Kerala Public Service Commission (KPSC) irregularities to the Supreme Court
Arlekar, before his transfer as governor from Keralam to Tamil Nadu, recommended to the President that M R Baiju be removed as the PSC chairman following a Crime Branch investigation into alleged irregularities in recruitments to the State Planning Board. It was the first time in the history of the state that a governor had recommended the sacking of the PSC chairman.
{{/usCountry}}Arlekar, before his transfer as governor from Keralam to Tamil Nadu, recommended to the President that M R Baiju be removed as the PSC chairman following a Crime Branch investigation into alleged irregularities in recruitments to the State Planning Board. It was the first time in the history of the state that a governor had recommended the sacking of the PSC chairman.
{{/usCountry}}Addressing the media on Thursday, Chandrashekhar said that many Malayalee youths who had been protesting for the last several months had been denied jobs because of the misgovernance of the PSC, which had been “captured by vested interests like the CPM”.
Accusing the Congress of highlighting student issues in other states while failing to address unemployment in Keralam, Chandrashekhar said, “The contrast reflects hypocrisy and double standards on the part of the Congress…”
“Why doesn’t Rahul Gandhi talk about unemployment? If he can go to Tamil Nadu for chattron ki goonj, why doesn’t he come to Keralam and talk about the chronic unemployment?” he added.
Keralam chief minister V D Satheesan on Wednesday had criticised Arlekar for recommending to President Murmu the removal of Baiju and said that the state government was not consulted before he made the recommendation.
The BJP leader on Thursday also slammed the Congress for taking a hypocritical stance on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). He said the party in Keralam supported the exercise but had been raising questions about the process in Delhi.
“In the 2026 election a fraud was perpetrated on the people of Keralam…the Congress and the CPM kept pretending that they were separate political entities but for the last six months we have seen how the Congress has done everything to protect the CPM against investigations of corruption. And we all know now it is because the Congress wants CPM’s support in Delhi against SIR,” he said.