Monday’s outburst by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan against the Centre and probe agencies like the Enforcement Directorate, NIA and CBI brought an unprecedented reaction from the BJP on Tuesday.
K Surendran, the BJP’s Kerala President asked Vijayan to cooperate with the investigating agencies which are probing a series of scams and corruption charges ranging from gold smuggling through diplomatic channel and LIFE Mission kickbacks.
Besides the broadside by Surendran, Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala, who is also the Leader of the Opposition, joined the bout and asked Vijayan to hand over the vigilance department which he heads as home minister.
By evening, a team of Enforcement Directorate officials reached Thiruvananthapuram in connection with the probe into Bineesh Kodiyeri’s involvement in drug trafficking and his business deals.
The ED team is likely to ‘raid’ or inspect the residence of Bineesh, but what embarrasses the CPI(M) is the fact that the latter, who is under arrest and is in a Bangalore jail, stays with his father, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the party’s Kerala strongman.
Vijayan in his Monday media briefing had alleged that the Centre’s investigating agencies like ED and CBI were tryting to subvert the development activities of the Kerala Government to discredit and tarnish the image of his party. Later on Monday, M V Govindan, a close aide of Balakrishnan declared that the ED would be taught a lesson by his party.
Surendran, who convened a media meet, charged that Vijayan has lost his mental balance. “His principal secretary has been arraigned as the fifth accused in the LIFE Mission scam by none other than the Vigilance Department of the Kerala Government. Vijayan heads the Vigilance Department and the bnaming of Sivsanakar as an accused is an attempt to save the chief minister himself,” said Surendran. The BJP leader charged that one of the contractors who had been tasked with the constriction of residential apartments in Thrissur district has gifted five i-phones and it has been found that one of the phones was being used by a close relation of the chief minister. “The Vigilance probe was ordered by Vijayan to derail the CBI probe into the massive corruption in this project,” charged Surendran.
The BJP leader further alleged that the CPI(M) leaders tried to purchase the integrity and loyalty of the ED and CBI officials. “There was a unit of the CPI(M) operating in the Kochi and Kozhikode offices of the Customs Department and this has been brought to light. Chief Minister knows that the probe officials would soon reach his doorsteps and that is the reason why he shows signs of upset,” said Surendran.