Thiruvananthapuram, July 24 : AICC general secretary, organisation, and former Alappuzha MP K.C. Venugopal has flayed the Kerala government for posting Sriram Venkataraman as the district collector of Kerala. Venugopal, who was a former Union minister and minister in Kerala, said that posting Venkataraman who is a "tainted" officer in a district like Alappuzha was indeed disappointing. Interacting with mediapersons at Kozhikode where he is participating in the two-day 'Chintan Shivir', Venugopal said that Venkataraman is an accused in a drunken driving case wherein he had lost control over his car and rammed into a journalist who was on the side of a road in Thiruvananthapuram, killing him instantly. Thiruvananthapuram bureau chief of a Siraj newspaper, K.M. Basheer was killed by a car that rammed into him in the wee hours of August 4, 2018, and found that it was Venkataraman who was at the wheel. There were several allegations of police and bureaucratic high-handedness to clear Venkataraman of the charges and even though the court sentenced him to judicial custody, the powerful bureaucratic lobby saved him, and he was admitted to a hospital citing serious medical condition. The Congress has come out strongly against the posting of Venkataraman as the Alappuzha district collector with the former MLA and former President of Alappuzha DCC, A.M. Shukoor strongly opposing it. Shukoor said that Venkataraman was a tainted person and his posting in Alappuzha as district collector was not acceptable. Shukoor told IANS, "We are contemplating on an agitation against this posting. The government must not have posted him as a district collector as it would give a wrong message to the general public." Senior Congress leader and former Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala opposed the appointment of Venktaraman as Alapuzha district collector. Speaking to IANS, the senior leader who is an MLA from Haripad in Alappuzha district said, "Government must immediately reconsider the decision. Why such a controversial bureaucrat is being foisted on the people of Alappuzha." /IANS