The Communist Party of India (Marxist) or CPI(M) Kerala state secretary M V Govindan on Sunday said central agencies were doing enough research to implicate chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and their efforts will not succeed.
“This is nothing new. They tried it several times but failed to come near him. People of the state increased Pinarayi Vijayan’s mandate during his second stint. Their efforts will fail again,” Govindan said. He added that the arrest of the chief minister’s former principal secretary M Sivasankar will not affect the government or the party.
“If Sivasankar has done anything wrong he will be in jail and the party was least bothered about the plan of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to question the CM’s private secretary C M Raveendran,” said Govindan.
The ED arrested Sivasankar on Tuesday in connection with alleged kickbacks in the Life Mission project. After his arrest Raveendran’s alleged chat with the main accused in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh, also came out. The ED said it will summon Raveendran in a couple of days.
“We have nothing to hide. Central agencies tried their best to link the CM with gold smuggling case and failed. Let them do enough research but their efforts will fail like their earlier attempts,” Govindan said.
The CPI(M) secretary is starting a month-long state yatra from northernmost district Kasargode on Monday against what he called the Centre’s step- motherly attitude towards the state. “The Union government is using all opportunities to stifle the state. We will tell people about this,” he said. During his yatra he will meet religious and influential leaders.
He said the state government has no plan to withdraw the ₹2 cess on petroleum products and criticised the Opposition for showing black flags to the CM and other ministers.
The opposition Congress has criticised the chief minister for travelling by helicopter alleging that he was trying to avoid black flags. Despite his copter journey to Palakkad and Kozhikode, he was shown black flags at two places on Saturday.
On Sunday, college students were not allowed to wear black masks and shawl when the CM participated in a programme at the Government Arts and Science College in Kozhikode. Earlier, the police took some workers of the Kerala Students Union (KSU), Congress youth outfit, in preventive custody.