THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan on Sunday alleged that BJP has “grave suspicions and concerns” that chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan may be a participant in the gold smuggling case, based on the conduct of his government in the matter.
The statement was in response to a query from a reporter as to whether BJP believes that Vijayan has any involvement in the smuggling case subsequent to revelations made against him by Swapna Suresh, key accused in the case.
Muraleedharan said that this belief emanates from the fact that the Left government’s general administration department, which comes under the CM, had allegedly unlawfully issued diplomatic identities to the UAE consulate employees.
The Union minister further alleged that the kind of relationship that the CM had with the consulate employees was unheard of in other states where such consulates exist and questioned the need for such contacts with employees of the UAE consulate here.
He told the media that the Left government has taken steps which have ‘posed obstacles’ in the probe being carried out in the case by investigating agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
This was evident from the fact the ED officials had to resort to litigation against the commission of inquiry set up by the state government, he claimed.
Such attempts by the state would distract and dishearten the officials from going ahead with the probe, he further claimed and questioned the Left government’s intentions behind such steps when it itself was contending there should be a fair probe.
He also clarified that while he never said Kerala Police and its crime branch were incompetent, they were unable to perform their duties properly due to the alleged poltical intereference of the state government.
Muraleedharan said as long as Narendra Modi was Prime Minister, no one involved in smuggling or corruption would be able to escape from the clutches of law and there would be no settlement of such cases.
He also said that Vijayan should come forward and respond to the charges against him, his family members and LDF MLA K T Jaleel by Suresh, in her recent disclosures. agencies
