Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan made a statement as per Rule 285 to dispel accusations of corruption raised by Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan against his daughter and business person T. Veena in the Assembly on Monday.
Excise Minister M.B. Rajesh disputed Mr. Kuzhalnadan’s attempt to target Mr. Vijayan’s family by raising a point of order. He requested Speaker A.N. Shamseer to remove Mr. Kuzhalnadan’s averments about a private individual who is not present in the House from Assembly records. Mr. Shamseer said he would examine the matter and issue a ruling later.
Opposition criticism
Nevertheless, incessant Opposition criticism that Mr. Vijayan feared addressing the accusations of corruption levelled against his daughter’s firm publicly prompted the government to state its case in the Assembly.
Without naming Ms. Veena, Mr. Vijayan said the firm had entered into a legitimate contract to provide consultancy service to a Kochi-based mining firm. An Income Tax (I-T) disputes settlement board in New Delhi had disallowed the mining firm from claiming input tax credit for its payments to the consultancy firm. The government was yet to get the board’s order. Nevertheless, a recriminatory campaign was afoot alleging that the legitimate payments made by the mining firm to the software consultancy company smacked of graft because the IT firm’s owner was Mr. Vijayan’s daughter.
Firm not heard
The Chief Minister noted that three Central government officials populated the board. They had not heard the company’s version. Moreover, the order should be seen against the backdrop of the Central government’s subversion of constitutional agencies to target and defame political opponents.
Mr. Vijayan said the United Democratic Front (UDF) had become the ideological echo chamber of the BJP-led Central government by parroting lies against the next of kin of the State’s political executive.
Mr. Vijayan said the software consultancy had paid GST and I-T on its income. Its contracts were transparent and above board. There was nothing unlawful in children of politicians striking out on their own in life by conducting legitimate businesses.
