THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress leadership has reacted strongly against the move by the state government to slap vigilance cases against Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala and two of his former cabinet colleagues in the previous UDF ministry, following allegations by hotelier Biju Ramesh.
Chennithala said the latest move against the UDF leaders is nothing but politically motivated after the central agencies' probe in the gold smuggling and other corruption cases reached Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Talking to reporters at Indira Bhavan after the UDF released its election manifesto towards the three-tier local body elections, Chennithala alleged that there is a deliberate and organised effort from the part of the state Government and the LDF to sabotage the probe on the gold smuggling case.
Chennithala demanded to know why M Sivasankar and Swapna Suresh, the key accused in the gold smuggling case, were desperately trying to save Pinarayi.
Chennithala maintained that the ploy of the Chief Minister will be exposed by the Opposition as the people are witnessing all the drama unfolding in front of them. Chennithala welcomed the vigilance probe against them.
“Now what the Chief Minister has initiated is subjudice as it is pending before the court. How can he order a probe then? I had denied the allegations raised by bar owner Biju Ramesh six years ago. Let the vigilance probe happen as I am ready to face any investigation where my hands are clean. Mr Pinarayi, you can’t scare the Opposition by coming up with false cases”, said Chennithala.
He also said the Congress does not accept bribes. The ploy of a “corrupt Pinarayi” is to convey to people that the Opposition Leader is also “corrupt”. Chennithala also did not spare finance minister T M Thomas Isaac on his tirade against Comptroller and Auditor General.
“What happened to Isaac? I feel that just because he is intelligent, he has landed in a soup”, added Chennithala.
The Opposition leader also demanded to know the current status of the move by the Enforcement Directorate to initiate a probe against two CPM ministers who had allegedly purchased 200-acre land in Maharashtra. Chennithala said only a comprehensive probe would unravel the truth behind the involvement of a retired bureaucrat who was instrumental in clinching the land deal for the two ministers’ in the Pinarayi’s cabinet.