THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress-led opposition continued its attack on Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over his silence on the hard-hitting CAG report on Kerala Police.
Speaking to the media at Kottayam on Monday, Chennithala who has been consistently raising this since it was tabled last week, reiterated that what has come out is the biggest scams in the history of the Kerala Police.
"Since Vijayan is also the Home Minister, nothing will happen without his knowledge. If he has no role in the alleged corrupt deals as pointed out by the CAG, why is he silent. He should come out and tell the people what it is all about," said Chennithala.
The CAG report for 2013-18 tabled in the Kerala Assembly on Wednesday (Feb 12) pointed out to missing guns and cartridges, misuse and diversion of funds. What has come as a surprise, the report pinpoints State police chief Loknath Behera. It also pointed to the alleged collusion between Keltron, a state public sector company and police in purchases made by the latter.
"Hitherto the amount that the state police chief could spend was Rs 2 crore and this government raised it to Rs 5 crore. Things are pretty bad in what has come out and the CPI-M is also silent and has ruled out even a probe. Either a CBI probe or a judicial probe has to be done," added Chennithala.
"Galaxon company that bagged a huge contract is a benami company and in the days to come more things will come out," added Chennithala.
In a related development, State Crime Branch police chief Tomin Thachenkery after conducting a physical verification said that no rifles are missing, while a probe is going on about the missing cartridges and none will be spared.
Speaker of the Kerala Assembly P. Sreeramakrishnan on Monday joined issue on the CAG report and echoed the fears of the CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan that from what has surfaced it should be believed that the CAG report was leaked.
"Anyway the public accounts committee of the legislature will now look into it. Let their report come and what needs to be done on the leak will be looked into," said Sreeramakrishnan.
Ahead of the CAG report being placed in the Assembly, senior Congress MLA P.T. Thomas had raised numerous allegations against the police and many were surprised to find striking similarities with the CAG report.
Meanwhile, newly appointed State BJP president K. Surendran also breathed fire and demanded Vijayan break his silence.
The Congress leadership is meeting here to finalise its strategy on how to deal with this issue.