THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The gold smuggling through the diplomatic channel once again led to an intense war of wards between the Opposition UDF and the ruling party in the assembly on Tuesday. The Opposition boycotted the proceedings after Speaker M B Rajesh denied their submission, after listing it, demanding a CBI probe in the gold smuggling case.
The treasury benches led by Law Minister P Rajeeve pointed out rule violation in making a submission on an issue on a foreign consulate that comes under the purview of the Union government. Mathew T Thomas also pointed out that the issue was discussed earlier. The speaker backed the ruling bench’s concern that allowing rule violation would lead it to a convention.
However, Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan alleged that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was running away from the issue. Later, Rajeeve in a press meet criticised the leader of opposition for raising the speaker’s ruling outside the house. Ridiculing the speaker was against the rule of the assembly, he pointed out.
Will act when the time comes: Union minister
T’Puram: The Centre will take action at the appropriate time on allegations of diplomatic channel being misused by the staff of UAE consulate for gold smuggling, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. He also stressed that the gold smuggling incident was a law and order issue. “The matter is being examined by the court and the investigating agencies. We will act when the time comes,” he said at a ‘meet the press’ programme.