BJP dragging CM Vijayan's name in the case against daughter's company: CPI(M)
Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 12 (PTI) The ruling CPI(M) in Kerala on Monday accused the BJP of trying to drag Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's name in the case against his daughter's IT firm as Lok Sabha polls are round the corner.
Addressing a press conference here, party state secretary M V Govindan said the allegations and the subsequent case against the now-defunct company, run by Vijayan's daughter T Veena, was a "politically motivated" one.
The case would be dealt with legally and politically, he said.
"Fresh issues are cropping up with regard to the Exalogic (Veena's firm) company. The fact is that, the BJP leadership is mulling how to link this to the chief minister," Govindan said.
He claimed that a "clear political agenda" of the BJP lay behind the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) probe announced by the Centre against Veena's company.
Attacking former Janspaksham party leaders P C George and his son Shon George, the CPI(M) leader said the SFIO probe against Exalogic was announced by the union government on the same day that they joined the BJP in New Delhi.
It was Shon who had approached the Kerala High Court seeking an SFIO probe against the CM's daughter's IT company and the case is continuing. There was a connection between them joining the BJP and the announcement of the probe, the Left leader alleged.
The CPI(M) once again made its position clear in the central agency's probe against Veena's firm a day after the BJP state unit criticised them for approaching the court against the SFIO investigation, urging them to reply to the investigating agency's notice if their hands were clean.
Union Minister V Muraleedharan on Sunday said if there is a contract between two companies, the buyer and the seller of the particular service must respond, and because this didn't happen, the SFIO issued a notice to the CM's daughter.
The BJP leader sought to know the unit of the Left party that the CM's daughter was functioning in, and pointed out that this was not the approach the CPI(M) had adopted when allegations cropped up against the sons of its former state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan a few years ago.
Vijayan recently told the state assembly that his hands were clean and therefore the allegations would not affect him.
The Centre had ordered the SFIO probe into the allegations of financial irregularities surrounding a Kochi-based private minerals company, Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) and Veena's firm -- Exalogic Solutions Private Ltd.
This follows a petition filed in the Kerala High Court that had sought an SFIO probe against the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC), Exalogic and CMRL.
The plea in the high court had alleged that "the machinery of the government intentionally aided and facilitated all corrupt practices and illegal business" in CMRL.
Muraleedharan also criticised the ruling CPI(M)'s reported move to shield the CM's daughter among party cadres. PTI
