Chief Minister's signatures forged to ratify govt files, alleges Kerala BJP leader; Vijayan rebuts claim

Vijayan refuted the allegations leveled by BJP state spokesman Sandeep Warrier, saying it was due to his lack of knowledge of the government's E-software system through which important files can be ratified while the chief minister is away from the office. Addressing a press conference, Warrier said the chief minister left for the US on September 2, 2018, for treatment but he signed a file pertaining to the Malayalam Language Day celebrations on September 9 when he was undergoing treatment at Mayo Clinic.

A Kerala BJP leader on Thursday stirred a row by alleging that fake signatures of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan were used to ratify government files when he went to the United States for treatment in September 2018, a charge rebutted by the CM. Vijayan refuted the allegations leveled by BJP state spokesman Sandeep Warrier, saying it was due to his lack of knowledge of the government's E-software system through which important files can be ratified while the chief minister is away from the office.

Addressing a press conference, Warrier said the chief minister left for the US on September 2, 2018, for treatment but he signed a file pertaining to the Malayalam Language Day celebrations on September 9 when he was undergoing treatment at Mayo Clinic. "In fact, the file had reached the table of the chief minister only on September 3, a day after he left for the US. Fake signature of the chief minister was used to ratify the file," the BJP leader alleged.

He also alleged that the signature on the file was not a digitally signed one. Warrier also said all files signed by the chief minister in the past four years should be examined.

"Is there someone in the chief minister's office to put his fake signature. This is a serious issue," he said. Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader P K Kunhalikkutty also attacked Vijayan over the issue.

"The chief minister should clarify whether it is a fake signature or not," Kunhalikutty said soon after Warrier raised the matter. Hitting out at the BJP and the IUML, Vijayan raised his iPad at the press conference held in the evening and said he had signed the e-files sent from his office while he was undergoing treatment in the US.

"I had signed 39 files sent through digitally on September 6, 2018," the chief minister said. He said the Kerala government issued an order on August 24, 2013, saying E-software can be used for signing files while the ministers are not in their office.

"It may be because of their lack of technical knowledge, the BJP raised such a complaint," Vijayan said but attacked Kunhalikutty saying the IUML leader had been a minister in the state for a very long time and he would be knowing its technical side. He alleged that the Congress-led UDF was trying to give strength to the allegations being raised by the BJP against his government.