Thiruvananthapuram, April 5 The Serious Fraud Investigation Office's (SFIO) charge sheet accusing Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter Veena Vijayan of receiving illegal payments amounting to Rs 2.70 crore from Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) in exchange for mining sanctions has come as a jolt for the CPI-M amid its ongoing 24th Party Congress in Tamil Nadu's Madurai.
Though Vijayan continues to be the undisputed leader in the party not just in Kerala, but also nationally, this news has not gone down well with a section of the party leadership, especially those from West Bengal, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and parts of north India.
While in-charge General Secretary Prakash Karat said that the party will deal with this both politically and legally, the differing response of West Bengal state Secretary Mohammed Salim came as a dampener for those strongly behind Vijayan and clearly implying that the top party leadership is not on the same page in its view of Vijayan and the case in which his daughter has landed in.
Salim said the legal aspect has to be dealt with directly by the person concerned, while the party will deal with the issue politically.
Though in the Kerala unit, there is not even a whimper of protest against Vijayan, a section of the party insiders however have become restless and it remains to be seen if the hopes of CPI-M Politburo member M.A.Baby gets dashed when the new General Secretary is going to be chosen.
While it’s commonly known that Vijayan and Baby are not on the same page, a bigger section in the party, however, favours Baby.
However, another section contends that with half of the one million party card-holders in the country from Kerala, choosing the new General Secretary from the same state might turn out to party being relegated to just another Kerala party.
Now with Vijayan’s daughter in trouble, all eyes are on Vijayan if he would flex his muscles to keep out Baby, so as to win some support from his senior colleagues to his larger cause of getting the party to back him and his daughter.
A political observer claimed that another trouble looming for Vijayan is Veena’s husband and state Tourism Minister P.A. Mohammed Riyas, who was fast-tracked into higher positions when he was made a Minister and later elevated to the powerful state Secretariat of the party.
"Since this Party Congress is, in all likelihood, going to be Vijayan’s last one, another elevation for Riyas to the powerful Central Committee is his desire and it remains to be seen if the party leadership will shoot it down, given the tangle that Veena is caught in," the observer postulated.
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