THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Terming as a farce the ongoing investigation into the large-scale felling of protected trees across the state, BJP state president K Surendran said the real culprits behind the incident are still hiding behind the curtain. Surendran was inaugurating the BJP’s state-wide protest in the state capital against the timber loot. Similar protests were held in 15,000 centres across the state, adhering to Covid protocol. The protests were led by senior BJP leaders Kumanam Rajasekharan in Kollam, George Kurien in Pathanamthitta, P Sudheer in Alappuzha, A N Radhakrishnan in Ernakulam, C Krishnakumar in Thrissur and P K Krishnadas in Wayanad.
The BJP president said the report submitted by the government in court, on the timber loot incident, was only the tip of the iceberg. Surendran said CPI state secretary Kanam Rajendran has admitted that the permission for tree felling was a political decision.
“An organised loot has taken place to mobilise money to fight the election. Leaders of the CPM and CPI benefited from the illegal activity,” Surendran alleged. He asked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to clarify how many crores of rupees worth of corruption has happened and who were the actual beneficiaries.