THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The penultimate day of the Assembly Budget session witnessed uproarious scenes and a tit-for-tat on the financial fraud relating to CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s son Binoy Kodiyeri. Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan allowed to move an adjournment motion by Anil Akkara (Cong) and later withdrew it on the face of stiff opposition from Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. UDF MLAs and BJP legislator O Rajagopal walked out in protest against the government stand.
Anil Akkara charged that Kodiyeri and his sons had used the recently held ‘Loka Kerala Sabha’ for business purpose.
“Travel curbs have been imposed on Binoy in Dubai and a case is pending against Vijayan Pillai MLA’s son Sreejith Vijayan in Karunagapally court. Allegations on financial matters have been levelled against E P Jayarajan’s son also. Children of CPM leaders are indulging in financial fraud. It is a shame for the entire Malayalee expatriate population in the Gulf,” he said pitching his demand to move an adjournment motion and discussions.
No need to discuss the matter: Pinarayi
The Chief Minister maintained that there is no relevance for any discussion, since none connected with the Assembly has any role in the allegations. The Chief Minister even remarked that matters should not be raised in the House in a manner like in a market. “When similar allegations came up against children of Vayalar Ravi, P Chidambaram and Amit Shah, it was not discussed in any parliamentary forums. Legal recourse is the only solution for such matters. Kerala government has nothing to do in this matter and the genesis of the case is not in the state.There is no question of allowing a discussion in the House on the basis of newspaper reports,” he said.
“Binoy Kodiyeri is doing some business in Dubai for some time.There may be some dispute in financial deals between businessmen and subsequently cases may arise. Usually, it will be sorted among themselves,” Pinarayi played cool. The chief minister also resorted to a personal attack against Anil Akkara, charging that the demand to move a motion has come from a person facing allegations in a cooperative bank fund swindling scam.
Why the discussion on solar case?
Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala contested it asking then why the House discussed the solar case many times on the basis of newspaper reports when the LDF was in the opposition. When the Chief Minister insisted that the Opposition was only trying to draw political mileage and drag CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan into the issue, the Opposition leader retorted that the it was the CPM central leadership which had released the news related to Binoy’s fraud . E P Jayarajan said his son, who is a distributor of the Royal Diesel Company, had given a cheque to help the son-in-law of Atlas Ramachandran languishing in Dubai jail.
The cheque was dishonoured after it was not utilised properly and my son eventually fell into a trap. ‘’My two sons had worked in the Gulf countries. Attempts are on to settle the cheque issue by selling off the shares of the distribution company,” he said. Jayarajan asked whether his sons did not have the freedom to live in the country. He also demanded that restrictions should be imposed on the media from publishing wrong news. Deputy Opposition leader M K Muneer, Anoop Jacob and O Rajagopal also spoke before staging the walkout. Kerala Congress (M) members did not join it, while K M Mani maintained that matters pending in the court should be decided in the court itself.
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