Congress presses CM Vijayan for answers over ‘no-return’ foreign trips

Thiruvananthapuram: The Congress in Kerala has called on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to publicly explain the benefits of his frequent foreign tours, after Right to Information (RTI) disclosures revealed that no investment agreements were signed during such visits over the past decade.

KPCC organizational general secretary M. Liju said on Friday that the Chief Minister “owes the people an explanation” following revelations that contradict his repeated claims in the Legislative Assembly.

According to RTI replies, between 2016 and 2025 Vijayan made 25 overseas trips to attract investments, visiting countries including the UAE, US, UK, Japan, South Korea, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, France, Bahrain and the Netherlands, but none resulted in a memorandum of understanding.

This stands in contrast to his statements in the Assembly about investment commitments worth hundreds of crores, including a prominent claim of 500 million dollars from the UAE government.

“All along, we have been asking what Kerala has gained from these trips. Now that authorities themselves have confirmed there were no MoUs, the CM must come clean,” Liju said.

Except for his US visit, most tours were official delegations funded by the state exchequer, costing several crores at a time when Kerala’s finances remain under strain. The presence of Vijayan’s wife, daughter and grandson on several of these trips has also drawn criticism.

Joseph C. Mathew, former IT advisor to ex-CM V.S. Achuthanandan, said the issue was not limited to foreign visits but also applied to domestic investment conclaves. “As compared to neighboring states, Kerala lags far behind in attracting sizeable investments. If the government’s claims of new establishments were accurate, unemployment should have vanished by now,” he remarked.

Mathew also referred to Vijayan’s earlier defense of his grandson’s participation in overseas trips: “It’s because he is my grandson that he is coming with me.”

With no official response from the Chief Minister so far, the row threatens to increase political pressure over the cost-effectiveness of his foreign engagements.