Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Sunday said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's attempt to play the victim of a political witch-hunt by Central investigation agencies was an affront to common sense and truth.
Mr. Chennithala said Mr. Vijayan had on Saturday erroneously drawn on the life of Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela to portray the predicament of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government that faced several Central investigations on corruption charges.
He said it would do well for Mr. Vijayan to remember that both leaders had borne the brunt of oppressive colonial governments for the cause of freedom and not gold smuggling or money laundering.
Mr. Chennithala said it was a shame to invoke the names of such iconic leaders in the context of the multiple money laundering and corruption investigations confronting the Pinarayi Vijayan government.
Mr. Chennithala said Kerala had viewed Mr. Vijayan's pitiable public plea to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to rescue his government from the jaws of Central law enforcement with derision.
Mr. Vijayan, who condemned the Central agencies, was afraid even to murmur a word of criticism against Mr. Modi or Union Home Minister Amit Shah and tiptoed around them warily.
Mr. Vijayan had claimed credit for ushering Central agencies to Kerala after the gold smuggling racket surfaced. He had said Mr. Modi had sanctioned his request for a comprehensive investigation. At the time, Mr. Vijayan also said United Democratic Front (UDF) leaders were fearful of the probe.
However, the probe ended up on the doorstep of the government. Customs arrested Mr. Vijayan's former Principal Secretary M. Sivasankar. It questioned Higher Education Minister K.T. Jaleel. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned C. M. Raveendran, additional private secretary to Chief Minister, for questioning.
Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan was under a cloud of suspicion. The investigation might reach more Ministers and party leaders, he said.
Mr. Vijayan had no compunction in allowing the police to shoot-down Maoists in cold blood, arresting impressionable youth on extremist charges of attempting to breathe life into bogus charges against UDF leaders, he said. The LDF government would get its comeuppance at the hustings, he said.
