THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On the eve of the first round of the three tier local body elections, senior Congress leaders have upped the ante against the LDF government with the case involving gold smuggling through the diplomatic route getting the major thrust. The regional- level alliance with the Welfare Party of India is another issue which has seen AICC organising general secretary K C Venugopal rubbishing UDF convener M M Hassan’s claim that a decision in this regard had already been taken by KPCC chief Mullappally Ramachandran.
Following reports on reverse hawala by Swapna Suresh, key accused in the gold smuggling case along with P S Sarith and former IT secretary M Sivasankar, it was Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala who first dropped the bomb about a top CPM leader allegedly misusing his passport. Though Chennithala shied away from naming the Left leader during the news conference in Ernakulam, the damage had been done as there were enough clues ranging from the leader availing himself of the green channel facility, having the highest levels of protocol and frequent visits abroad.
The UDF camp has been agog since Swapna Suresh came out with her latest secret statement before the Enforcement Directorate, linking the senior CPM leader with reverse hawala. “When right from the chief minister, a former party secretary to former area secretary in Kalamassery have been engaged in corrupt practices, what is there to be scared of? In the coming days, the CPM leadership will have to answer the people in terms of the gold smuggling and the slew of corruption practices,” Hassan told TNIE.But at the same time the issue on forging regional-level adjustment with fringe elements has not fizzled out much to the anguish of DCC brass in Malabar region.