Keralam Local Bodies Minister and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader K. M. Shaji’s use of a luxury sports utility vehicle, purportedly borrowed from a Saudi Arabia-based businessperson friend of his, as his official car has snowballed into a major political controversy marred by accusations of corruption, conflict of interest, unethical quid pro quos and violation of the Constitutional oath of office.

Mr. Shaji came under intense criticism for affixing the Keralam State Government registration plate, Keralam State 13, reserved for the official vehicles of cabinet Ministers, on a privately owned luxury vehicle belonging to his friend, Yakoob Thillenkeri, a Kannur resident who runs a business operation in Riyadh. 

Photographs of Mr. Shaji posing alongside the car, which flew the national flag from a staff affixed on the vehicle’s bonnet, had gone viral on social and conventional media recently, drawing applause from his supporters and criticism from Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leaders, notably former Minister K.T. Jaleel and Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) State president, Chintha Jerome, among others.

Moreover, Mr. Shaji had initially tried to defend his use of the “borrowed” vehicle, claiming the van assigned to him had clocked over 4 lakh kilometres and its roadworthiness was suspect.

Later, Mr. Shaji was constrained to return the vehicle to Mr. Thillenkeri after he and the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) government arguably found themselves in “poor light”, especially at a time when Keralam was reeling under rolling night-time power cuts exacerbated by paltry State finances. 

Nevertheless, on Sunday, Mr. Shaji assumed his politically combative persona on social media. In a Facebook post, Mr. Shaji dared the CPI(M) cadres to carry out their “threat” to block his passage if he used the private vehicles of his friends or well-wishers as his official conveyance. 

He challenged the media to investigate whether he had done anything out of the way for his friends or acquaintances. At the same time, Mr. Shaji chided journalists for chasing mirages instead of focusing on bread-and-butter issues that matter to Keralam’s people and polity. He also promised to “reveal an important matter at 11.30 a.m. (On Sunday)”, asking his social media followers to brace themselves for the hour. 

In a Facebook post titled “Shaji and Range Rover car”, Mr. Jaleel flagged a “serious violation” of the oath of office on the part of the Minister. He alleged that Mr. Shaji accepted a freebie in contravention of the Constitutional pledge not to show fear or favour while holding elected office.

Mr. Jaleel also accused Mr. Shaji of demeaning State symbols by using them on a “loaned private vehicle”.

Quoting the Holy Quran, Mr. Jaleel cautioned Mr. Shaji against professing what the latter could not practice.

Earlier, Ms. Jerome demanded that Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan publicly clarify whether Mr. Shaji’s acceptance of the private vehicle for official use amounts to an unethical quid pro quo. 

Minister for Local Self-Governments (LSG) K.M. Shaji’s stand that the Kerala government is not opposed to the Union government’s insistence of an emblem in front of houses built under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) has drawn sharp criticism from the Opposition.

The Minister’s stand is in sharp contrast to the previous Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s, which had opposed the same citing the dignity of the beneficiaries of the housing scheme.

After his remarks on Saturday (June 27, 2026) kicked up a storm, Mr. Shaji, who met the media again on Sunday (June 28, 2026), claimed that the reports of the PMAY emblem having Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s photograph are wrong.

“I said there was nothing wrong with displaying the PMAY emblem. Can anyone show me a PMAY emblem carrying the Prime Minister’s photograph? Over 1.2 lakh poor families will get new houses under the scheme. Houses meant for the poor should not be blocked by creating unnecessary controversies in the name of an emblem,” he said.

Shaji on LDF’s stance

Mr. Shaji alleged that the previous LDF government had withdrawn from the PMAY agreement not because of ideological reasons but due to its inability to provide the State’s financial share due to a deepening financial crisis. 

Leader of the Opposition Pinarayi Vijayan has on Saturday posted in his Facebook page a video of a speech he had made on the issue during his tenure as the Chief Minister, when he said that the government is opposed to displaying any logo or photograph in front of houses of beneficiaries of various schemes.

“When you put up an emblem or logo in front of a house, it conveys a message to those who are living there that the house does not belong to them. The houses belong to the beneficiaries. Our stand is that no display board which questions the self-respect of the beneficiaries should be put up in front of houses. If the Union government’s stand is that it will not provide its share of housing schemes if the logo is not put up, we are ready to give up that aid,” Mr. Vijayan had said.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] MP A.A. Rahim said at a press conference on Sunday that the LDF government, which had built 5.78 lakh houses under the LIFE project with a beneficiary share of ₹4 lakh each from the State government, never insisted on putting up LIFE logo on any of the houses. However, the Union government, which is providing only ₹1.5 lakh for houses under the PMAY scheme with the State government adding an additional ₹2.5 lakh to make it on par with LIFE scheme, is insisting on a logo.

“Mr. Shaji now claims that the logo does not have Mr. Modi’s photograph. The issue is not whether the logo has anyone’s image. Display of a housing project logo in front of a house affects the dignity of those living in it. The beneficiaries should not get a feeling that they are living in a house which they got free of cost,” said Mr. Rahim. The MP also held up photographs of large PMAY logos in front of houses in north Indian States.

“It is the Constitutional duty of governments to provide aid to the homeless to construct houses. The Modi government has ignored this fact while making the display of PMAY logo mandatory. The State government is supposed to oppose it, rather than follow it faithfully. The Chief Minister should explain whether the government agrees with Mr. Shaji’s opinions on this,” he said.