THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The LDF on Saturday took out protest marches to customs offices in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and Kozhikode, in the wake of the Customs Department naming Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and three other ministers in the affidavit submitted to the High Court in connection with the dollar smuggling case.
CPM Polit Bureau member MA Baby inaugurated the sit-in protest in Thiruvananthapuram, while Ernakulam CPM district secretary C N Mohanan inaugurated the protest in front of Kochi office. In Kozhikode, CPM party district secretary P Mohanan inaugurated the march.
According to Baby, the BJP has been using central investigation agencies as a weapon to defame and destroy the LDF Government. “As per my knowledge, Swapna Suresh, the accused in the case, had given the confidential statement as per Section 164 CrPc in December last year. The customs did not disclose it to the media then. Now, when the elections are announced, the agency has given the details to the media. Everyone can say that it is a politically motivated move from the Centre.
However, the LDF will not get scared of all these and our chief minister is strong enough to face these agencies. Pinarayi Vijayan has not come to the politics overnight or ejected to Kerala politics from a parachute. He knew the pulse of the state from his student politics,” he said.
C N Mohanan came down heavily against BJP state president K Surendran saying that whether Surendran had any eligibility to criticise Pinarayi Vijayan. Meanwhile, customs (preventive) commissioner Sumit Kumar took to social media to criticise the LDF’s protest march. He wrote on Facebook that “A political party trying intimidation, will not work”, while sharing the picture of the poster of the LDF protest march.