Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday launched a scathing attack on the Left Democratic Front (LDF) and Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the gold smuggling case.
He was addressing an election convention of the National Democratic Alliance at Ponkunnam.
Mr. Shah dismissed allegations of deploying the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for political gains and threw a set of queries towards the Chief Minister.
“Whether the prime accused in the gold smuggling case had been working in his office and did your government give ₹3 lakh as monthly remuneration to the prime accused? Whether your Principal Secretary had made a phone call to help the accused and had the prime accused woman travelled at the government’s expense with the permission of your Principal Secretary? Why did this woman used to visit the Chief Minister repeatedly? Whether the Chief Minister’s office exerted pressure on Customs officers after the gold seizure and did you initiate a strong inquiry when the Customs and ED officers were attacked?” asked Mr. Shah.
He also spoke about how the CPI(M) was allegedly remote controlling the Public Service Commission (PSC) to fit in its cadre in government jobs.
Holding that the BJP government at the Centre was committed to initiate development projects in Kerala, he elaborated on the new projects allotted to the State, including the 2,000 MW Pugalur-Thrissur High Voltage Direct Current project, a 50 MW solar power project in Kasaragod and the allocation of ₹65,000 crore for the development of national highways in Kerala.
NDA candidates of all nine Assembly constituencies in the district were present at the venue. Braving the scorching sun, thousands of people had gathered at the venue to attend the function.
