Kerala PCC president K Sudhakaran said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who says everyone knows the office where the gold smuggling took place, should clarify what action has been taken against the looters.
When the gold smuggling case came into the limelight, five Central investigative agencies stormed into the Chief Minister’s Office. However, when the 2021 Assembly elections came, not only did all the agencies go back faster than they had come, Sudhakaran said.
In an oblique reference to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office, Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday said that everyone knew which office was behind the gold smuggling and that there was no need to hide it from anyone.
The serious allegations of gold smuggling, dollar smuggling, money laundering and violation of foreign exchange rules were levelled against the chief minister at one stage, Sudhakaran said. “The principal secretary of the chief minister was made a scapegoat and imprisoned. An important accused in the case pointed out that Kerala was looted with the knowledge and consent of the state chief minister. However, the Central agencies didn’t conduct any probe into these allegations,” the Congress Kerala chief said.
Sudhakaran said instead of ordering a probe into the serious allegations against the Chief Minister’s Office, Prime Minister Modi is protecting Pinarayi Vijayan like the apple of his eye.
Sudhakaran said the Modi administration, which is hunting the Opposition leaders across the country even in non-existent cases, is going soft on Chief Minister Vijayan. Though there were clear evidence and statements against the Kerala Chief Minister, the probe agencies under the Modi administration have not conducted even a preliminary inquiry into the allegations.
H said the Central probe agencies’ reluctance to probe the allegations against the Chief Minister should be read along with adjournment of the Lavlin case for 28 times, in which Pinarayi Vijayan is a party.
Meanwhile, AICC general secretary KC Venugopal asked the prime minister to take action against all those who are involved in the diplomatic gold smuggling case. Instead of making speeches, the PM should see that a proper probe is being conducted against all facing the allegations, he said.
Opposition leader VD Satheesan also asked the prime minister why the office behind the gold smuggling was let off without subjecting to the scrutiny of the Central probe agencies. “The prime minister has said that everyone knew which office was behind the gold smuggling. Why then the probe agencies didn’t raid that office,” he asked.
There is a general belief that the Central agencies which are seriously probing the allegations against other opposition leaders have gone soft on the allegations levelled against the Kerala CM.