A purported probe by the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs into the company matters of a mining firm based in Kochi has put the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government in the crosshairs of the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) again.
Last year, the Income Tax department had accused the firm of making “inexplicable payments” to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter T. Veena, among others, including politicians across the aisle.
However, the Congress singled out the sizeable retainer fee received by Ms. Veena’s IT consultancy during the 2017-21 period as a classic example of profiting off proximity to power while condoning other dole-outs, including to several Opposition leaders, as legitimate political donations.
