THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Opposition, which has until now been demanding for the ouster of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan owing to his office coming under a cloud of smoke in the gold smuggling case, has come up with a latest demand that a stage has come where he should be questioned.
Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala opined that the State has become “consultancy Raj” after consultant agencies have been appointed against the central CPM leadership’s decision. Chennithala alleged that Pinarayi is a party to treason when Sandeep Nair, one of the key suspects in the case had claimed that M. Sivasankar, the former principal secretary to the CM had helped the suspects in the gold smuggling.
Talking to reporters at Cantonment House here, Chennithala unleashed his tirade against Pinarayi. He alleged that the Chief Minister has deliberately feigned ignorance about what is happening in his office. He maintained that Pinarayi has been cheating the people. Replying to the allegation of chief minister that the Opposition has been trying to defame the LDF Government, Chennithala said only if the ruling Government has any image, he can come up with such a claim.
They never had that quality to boast about, he said. “Pinarayi had been claiming that those officials who had committed mistakes would be punished. If that’s the case, then Pinarayi should also be questioned. Pinarayi had claimed that he is not aware of what’s happening in his office. Moreover, party secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had said in a television interview that it is surprising that Pinarayi was not aware of his former principal secretary being smart”, said Chennithala.
The Opposition Leader also said that the Chief Minister cannot run away from the moral responsibility as CMO is having links in the gold smuggling case. He also demanded to know from the Chief Minister whether the LDF Government had taken a decision to cancel the consultancy agreement given to London based PricewaterhouseCoopers as there has been lack of clarity on it.
Chennithala also blamed the lapse of the LDF Government in combating the Covid -19 pandemic. “Government should become a corrective force in combating the corona virus when so far they resorted to public exercise to garner the attention of the people. Out of 38 Covid -19 deaths so far, 24 of them were diagnosed with the virus after their death. The State Government should ensure 30,000 tests per day where its outcome should be known within 24 hours as per ICMR guidelines”, added Chennithala.