A nepotism allegation has surfaced over the appointment of Kerala BJP president K Surendran's son at a central government institution in Thiruvananthapuram.
The row is over the appointment of K S Harikrishnan as technical officer at Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), a research institute under the department of biotechnology.
While Congress and CPI(M) demanded a probe into the allegation, Surendran termed it baseless. "Neither him nor any of his representatives made any interventions in the posting," Surendran told reporters and warned of legal action against raising the "baseless" allegation.
It was alleged that the eligibility criteria for the post was altered and the selection carried out in haste.
While an official reaction of RGCB was yet to come on the matter, a senior official of RGCB told a news channel that the selection was carried out by following the norms and the family background of the candidates was not considered.