THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Thursday fired a fresh salvo at the LDF government calling it a den of anti-national activities even as he accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of shielding the culprits. Chennithala’s continuing tirade in which he called for the government’s resignation came amid the protests by pro-Opposition youth outfits for Minister K T Jaleel’s ouster from the Cabinet.
Making a renewed call for Jaleel’s removal, he sought to know the privilege being extended to Jaleel which had been denied to Ministers E P Jayarajan, A K Saseendran and, the late Thomas Chandy. Describing Jaleel’s nearly four-hour long questioning by the ED as a blot on Kerala, Chennithala said Pinarayi is protecting Jaleel who allegedly has close links with suspects in the gold smuggling case. He flayed the minister for clandestinely appearing before the ED.
“The people are wondering whether Pinarayi is terrified of Jaleel who is widely perceived as guilty. Jaleel has repeatedly claimed that truth will prevail, but he ought to introspect whether it is a good thing to continue in office, irrespective of Pinarayi’s support,” said Chennithala, adding, why double standards were adopted in the case of tainted minister and M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the CM.