Accusing the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of intimidating people to prevent the growing public outrage, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran has demanded that the CM should step down and face investigation.
In his presidential address at the State committee meeting of the party in Pathanamthitta on Monday, Mr. Surendran described Mr. Vijayan as the first CM who could not sleep at home for fear of public anger. “That the CM has been unable to face the public even in Kannur, a stronghold of the CPI(M) is a reflection of the public sentiment. He should waste no time in stepping down as the CM and facing the investigation,” said Mr. Surendran.
Pointing out that the BJP was the first to bring out the role of Mr. Vijayan in gold smuggling to the public’s attention, he said it was for the first time in the history of India that a Chief Minister had been involved in gold smuggling. “The State government tried its best to sabotage the investigation and attempts were made to intimidate the investigating officers. The Crime Branch registered a case against the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and a judicial inquiry was announced against the central investigation agencies. Things, however, have become clear once the secret statement given by Swapna Suresh came to the fore,” he added.
He also hit out against the Congress for being neck-deep in corruption and said V.D. Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala had no right to speak against corruption. “All India Congress Committee President Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi are now facing action in a corruption case. Given this situation, Mr. Satheesan is protesting against the ED in Ernakulam for interrogating Mr. Gandhi, while in the evening, he will stage another protest in Thiruvananthapuram against the ED not arresting Mr. Vijayan. The CM, at the same time, was holding that the ED was intimidating Mr. Gandhi,” said Mr. Surendran.
On the occasion, Mr. Surendran also announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was scheduled to arrive in Thiruvananthapuram on June 21 for inaugurating development projects worth ₹50,000 crore.
C.P. Radhakrishnan, the party in-charge of the State, inaugurated the State committee meet, attended by about 300 members. BJP State vice president A.N. Radhakrishnan and other office bearers also spoke.
