Deep-sea fishing row: CPI(M)'s Mercykutty Amma slams IAS officer

Thiruvananthapuram: CPI(M) leader and former Fisheries Minister J Mercykutty Amma on Sunday accused IAS officer N Prasanth of being behind the multi-crore deep-sea fishing deal controversy, claiming he played the role of a 'villain' in orchestrating a political conspiracy.

The issue began in February 2021 when Chennithala made headlines by claiming that the Fisheries Department had sanctioned a Rs 5,000 crore deep-sea trawler deal. Mercykutty Amma, who was the Fisheries Minister at the time, rejected the claims as baseless. However, a day later, Chennithala released a document that supposedly showed an MoU had been signed for the deal. She clarified that the MoU was not signed by the Fisheries Department, but by Prasanth, the Managing Director of the Kerala Shipping and Inland Navigation Corporation, who is now at the center of the controversy.

Mercykutty Amma further accused Prasanth of breaking service rules and decency in his role in the conspiracy. She stated that while she had suspected the truth would eventually come out, Prasanth's involvement had now been exposed.

Meanwhile, the Congress-led UDF criticized the Left government, citing internal conflicts between government officers, particularly following Prasanth’s Facebook post accusing senior IAS officer A Jayathilak, which has ignited political debate in the state.

With PTI inputs