THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Supreme Court’s stay on the vigilance probe in the CMRL case has come as a huge relief for former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. For the ruling UDF, however, the SC decision has come as a major setback and is likely to trigger further infighting in the Congress which has already been witnessing differences over the government’s stand in the matter.
The SC verdict would also be a temporary relief for Pinarayi in the ongoing Enforcement Directorate (ED) case, though the agency has ruled this out. The ED had summoned the leader of opposition for interrogation on Friday. However, there were indications Pinarayi would skip it citing the ongoing assembly session.
Now, with the SC taking an adverse position in the vigilance case—and Pinarayi’s lawyer stating that the CPM veteran will not appear before the agency in the wake of the verdict—the ED may keep the interrogation on hold for now. There are reports that the agency is planning to wait for the Kerala High Court’s final decision before moving further.
The CPM leadership welcomed the verdict. “The verdict is a setback for the (Narendra) Modi-VD-ED nexus. It (the case) is part of a political witch-hunt that has been going on in other states.
The SC verdict should be viewed as a validation of CPM’s stand that such cases would be dealt with legally and politically. The verdict is also a setback for the Congress in Keralam and Chief Minister V D Satheesan both of whom have been supporting central agencies run by the Sangh Parivar,” said CPM central committee member K N Balagopal.
Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan, who has been pursuing the case against Pinarayi, said the order was of a more technical nature rather than based on the case’s merits.
“The SC looked at it from a technical angle and said denying petitioners the opportunity to challenge the single judge order was not correct,” he said. Kuzhalnadan had earlier criticised the government for taking a stand in favour of Pinarayi before the court.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala hailed the ruling as testament to the government’s approach in the case. “When we received the ED’s letter, the government took a stance to carefully examine it, avoid unnecessary haste and take appropriate legal action, which is understood to be endorsed by the SC. Announcing a preliminary inquiry before filing an FIR was part of that approach,” he stated in a press release. Commenting that the government was forced to register the case when the HC single bench ruled to skip the preliminary probe and file an FIR immediately, Chennithala also attributed the SC’s decision not to cancel the FIR as being legally correct.
Meanwhile, the BJP leadership reminded the CPM that the SC had not quashed the FIR. Questioning why the government is not well-prepared to defend the case registered by their own vigilance, BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar asked why Satheesan was trying to rescue Pinarayi in the case.
“Before CPM tries to portray the court order as a massive win for Pinarayi, it should remember that the Supreme Court has not quashed the FIR, nor has it stayed the ED case related to the CMRL corruption. The investigation was stayed by the Supreme Court for only seven days, to allow the High Court to consider Pinarayi’s appeal,” he noted in a statement.
