‘Pinarayi Vijayan is a legend; CM upset by praise; ends speech out of fear

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan got upset on the welcome speech lauding him. The incident happened at the P N Panicker Memorial Reading Day function held at the Tagore Theatre. The chief minister expressed displeasure on the remarks of N Balagopal, who delivered the welcome speech. Balagopal is the vice chairman of the P N Panicker Foundation.

Balagopal said the chief minister is Kerala's blessing and that he is a legend. After realizing that the chief minister was upset on the speech, the organizers wrote to Balagopal to shorten his speech. With this, Balagopal ended his speech saying that if he spoke more, the chief minister would get angry and that he was afraid of him.

The chief minister, who returned to his seat, smilingly said, 'you spoke for three minutes.' In his speech, the chief minister said that the library movements in Kerala are a model for the world and that Kerala is showing the way for the entire country.