The controversy over alleged illegal payment to Kerala Chief Minister’s daughter Veena Vijayan by the mining company, Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) has put both the CPI-M-led ruling Left Democratic Front(LDF) and the opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front( UDF) in a difficult situation.

As both the fronts are caught in a bind over how to respond to the issue, the LDF not knowing how to defend the Chief Minister’s daughter effectively and the UDF not in a position to turn Veena Vijayan issue into a political weapon against Chief Minister Vijayan as the names of prominent UDF leaders are also included in the diary jottings of the mining company, it is reported that the Central agencies would take up the “pay off” cases.

It is learnt that the Income Tax department has handed over the details of the “pay offs” and tax evasions to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI and the Central agencies would conduct a probe in the case.

The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, in its recent meeting held in Kerala has handed over the details of the payments made by CMRL to political leaders and others to the Central agencies.

It has been revealed that names of leaders from both the ruling and Opposition camps, figured in the diary jottings seized by the Income tax department from the CMRL company.

Meanwhile, it has been reported that opposition leader VD Satheesan has expressed his displeasure in the action of party MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan in having raised the Veena issue in the Assembly, ignoring the UDF parliamentary party decision.

Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan put up a lone fight raising the controversy in the House during the debate on the Kerala Government Land Assignment Act (Amendment) Bill, 2023. However, as soon as Kuzhalnadan started speaking, Speaker Shamseer intervened and stopped him.

It is said that some leaders in the Congress, who were opposed to the UDF decision to keep silent on the Veena issue, were giving silent permission to Kuzhalnadan to raise the issue in the House. There is a section of leaders in the Congress who hold the view that the illegal payment to the CM’s daughter and the payment given to political leaders are to be viewed differently and the UDF should have raised the issue in the House on Thursday. These leaders believe that distancing from the issue may not be good for the UDF. it may backfire, they say.

Opposition leader VD Satheesan on Thursday said that the opposition did not raise the Veena Vijayan issue in the Assembly because it would not stand as per sections 50-52 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Kerala Legislative Assembly. But many Congress workers do not buy such an argument.

The general view over the UDF stand on the issue is that the Congress and the UDF have missed a golden opportunity to attack the Chief Minister and the LDF government based on a decision of a quasi-judicial body. It was the New Delhi bench of the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board (ITISB) that has found that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter T Veena allegedly received Rs 1.72 crore from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) for consultancy services that were never provided.

In this connection, BJP Kerala president K Surendran said that the INDIA front in Kerala has become the front of thieves and robbers.

Meanwhile, the BJP workers in Kerala hoped that the probe by the Central agency would not get in the way of diplomatic gold smuggling, Life Mission and related cases.

A BJP worker in Kozhikode who is sore over the manner in which the Central agencies conducted the gold smuggling and related cases and the adjournment of the Lavlin case said it should be ensured that no kind of compromise/adjustment politics would come in the way of the probe of the case.