The Congress-led UDF did not raise the allegations against Kerala chief minister’s daughter Veena Vijayan in the Assembly on Thursday.
The UDF leadership, which had earlier decided to raise the issue through an adjournment motion in the House, later decided not to raise the issue in the assembly as the names of prominent UDF leaders were also included in the’ monthly payment list’ of the CMRL company.
As the news broke on Wednesday morning that Veena Vijayan accepted money from the company engaged in black sand mining, Congress state president K Sudhakaran sought a judicial probe into the issue. Party MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan levelled serious allegations against the CM’s daughter. He challenged the CM to come clean on the allegation. However, by Wednesday evening, it was revealed that more names, from both the ruling and Opposition camps, figured in the diary jottings seized by the Income tax department from the CMRL company.
By evening, other names recorded as diary jottings by CMRL’s Chief Financial Officer K S Suresh Kumar came out. They included Kunhalikutty, A Govindan, Oommen Chandy, Pinarayi, Ebrahimkunju and Ramesh Chennithala
It has been reported that the New Delhi bench of the Income Tax Interim Settlement Board (ITISB) 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.
Reports said Veena and her firm, Exalogic Solutions, entered into an agreement with the private company to provide IT, marketing consultancy, and software services to the latter. However, no services were provided, as the income tax investigation found.
The company told the Income Tax Department that the money was, however, paid in monthly instalments as per the contract. The Income Tax Disputes Redressal Board found that a nexus with a prominent person was behind the transaction.
Albeit the opposition’s surprising decision not to raise the Veena Vijayan issue in the Assembly, Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan put up a lone fight raising the controversy in the House. No MLA from UDF came with support to Kuzhalnadan. As soon as Kuzhalnadan started speaking, Speaker Shamseer intervened and stopped him.
With the Opposition keeping silent, the chief minister escaped from making a reply to the allegations raised against his daughter in the House. The Opposition UDF decided not to turn Veena Vijayan issue into a political weapon as the names of prominent UDF leaders are also included in the diary jottings.
Meanwhile, Satheesan said the Opposition did not raise 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. He criticised the media for questioning why the issue was not raised in the Assembly, and said that matters of priority are decided by the party, not the media.
He also defended opposition leaders who were accused of receiving funds from the mining company, Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL)“Don’t political parties accept donations from industrialists, traders and Malayalees abroad? What’s wrong with that? All political parties will raise funds,” Satheesan asked.
In this connection, Union minister V Muralidharan sought to know why Satheesan was trying to protect the CM.
“Within hours of reports against the CM’s daughter, it was decided to adjourn the Assembly session on Thursday. The party which shouts Adani, Adani in the Parliament cannot utter a slogan ‘Kartha, Kartha’ in the Assembly. Why is Satheesan trying to protect Pinarayi,” Muralidharan asked.
Meanwhile, Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar targeted the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Left Democratic Front over the allegations against CM’s daughter Veena Vijayan’s firm receiving Rupees 1.72 crore from a private company in exchange for no services. Calling it “Veena Service Tax”, Chandrashekhar questioned the INDIA alliance as to why the money was paid to her company by the private company which has nothing to do with software and technology.
The CPI-M denied the allegations against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan. It was a legal service agreement between two legitimate companies, and the money was paid on an annual basis as per the norms of the agreement, the party said.