Minister's claim 'exposed' as GAD removes Veena George's staff with retrospective effect

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Health minister Veena George's claim that her personal staff member, who was found involved in the attack on Rahul Gandhi's office, had left her team since the beginning of this month, turned baseless with the general administration department (GAD) issuing the order on Saturday removing him from the team with retrospective effect from June 15.
The health minister had claimed on Saturday morning that Avishith K R, who was the office attendant, had left her team due to personal reasons since the beginning of this month. However, when the media reported about the GAD order being issued only on Saturday removing him from the team, the minister said, "He had sought his own removal from the team due to personal reasons, and I had given a letterto the general administration seeking his removal from the team."
"But this letter was not given on Friday or Saturday as reported by the media. This letter was given a few days ago and I do not remember the exact date," the minister added.
On the retrospective effect given in the order for his removal from the team, the minister said, "Avishith K R was not coming for duty since the beginning of this month. He had come in the first week and after that he was not regular. Then he said he was relieving himself from duty and hence we asked the GAD to relieve him from duty from June 15."
However, the order issued by GAD clearly says that the private secretary of the health minister had asked GAD seeking the removal through a letter on June 23. The GAD has also asked Avishith to return the identity card issued by the home department with immediate effect.
The health minister while condemning the attack against the office of Rahul Gandhi said, the party and she herself did not support any kind of such attacks. "If he was my personal staff I would have certainly looked into the matter and would have taken appropriate action," she said.