THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has sought finance minister Thomas Isaac's resignation alleging that the latter misled the Legislative Assembly regarding the CAG audit report. Chennithala maintained that Isaac has violated the constitutional principles and oath of secrecy.
Talking to reporters at Indira Bhavan on Tuesday, Chennithala said Isaac lied about the CAG report on KIIFB as he had been maintaining that it was a draft report. His claims have been proven wrong. "Isaac has been coming up with more false statements when he was caught red-handed after the CAG's press statement. Isaac should resign immediately as he has no right to continue in office after lying repeatedly," said Chennithala.
The Opposition leader also urged the Legislative Assembly Speaker to intervene in the issue. Chennithala has already given a letter to the Speaker highlighting how Isaac violated the principles of the Legislative Assembly.
"Isaac has created history as this is the first time ever in the country where a finance minister has revealed the CAG's final report prior to it being tabled in the Legislative Assembly. The CAG's press release exposed Isaac. When Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was quizzed about the CAG's report, he behaved as if he lost his mental balance. Until Monday, Isaac was claiming that it was a draft report. Now, why did he confirm that it was the final report? I am surprised that the state's finance minister is not even aware whether a CAG report is a draft or final report," said Chennithala.
The Opposition leader also alleged that Isaac had stolen the report from the finance secretary. As per the norm, it is the finance secretary who receives the CAG report and the bureaucrat will in turn hand it over to the Governor. Instead, Isaac came up with the contents of the CAG report before the media.
Earlier in the morning, Isaac alleged a conspiracy theory against the KIIFB. However, Chennithala rubbished Isaac's views and maintained that the veracity of the report needs to be probed.
Chennithala also did not spare the Chief Minister. The moment the Opposition makes a charge against the LDF government, the CM alleges that a nexus is being hatched between the Congress and BJP, he said. Regarding masala bond procurement through high interests, Chennithala reiterated that this has been initiated to protect the SNC Lavalin so that Pinarayi can walk away with the commission.
"Pinarayi is ranting against the central agencies. He has never disowned his former principal secretary M Sivasankar and Swapna Suresh, the key accused in the gold smuggling case. There is no transparency on masala bonds. Isaac is very smart when it comes to quoting figures worth several crores. It should be recalled that even without KIIFB, the previous UDF government had implemented developmental projects in the state," added Chennithala.