Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 29 Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Kerala Assembly, V.D. Satheesan on Wednesday released crucial documents relating to grant of a brewery licence to a controversial firm embroiled in the Delhi excise case.
He said it was a decision taken by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan alone without consulting other departments.
The firm in question, Oasis Commercial Private Limited, whose top official was previously jailed in the Delhi Excise policy case, received approval to establish multiple facilities in the water-scarce district of Palakkad.
These include an ethanol plant, a multi-feed distillation unit, an Indian-Made Foreign Liquor bottling unit, a brewery, a malt spirit plant, and a brandy/winery plant at Kanjikode on a 26-acre plot purchased two years ago.
LoP Satheesan had raised this issue in December and had said that at the appropriate time he would come out with evidence that this was nothing but a deal.
“I am releasing the Cabinet decision to this effect which was taken on January 15 and not a single department was informed or their consent taken. All wish to know why every other department was kept in the dark. Was there no other company other than Oasis Commercial Private Limited?
“Now Vijayan needs to say how much did he ‘get’ for this ‘deal’ and this is what the Opposition has been asking for a while,” said Satheesan.
The Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Congress, has been vocal against the licence given to Oasis and is accusing the government of corruption and neglecting environmental concerns.
Meanwhile on Wednesday, a section of the Janata Dal (S), an ally of the ruling Vijayan government whose nominee in the Cabinet K. Krishnankutty, hails from water scarce Palakkad district, has demanded that he step down from the Cabinet for remaining silent when the issue came up in the Cabinet.
Incidentally Krishnankutty was in the forefront of the agitation against the Coco-Cola bottling plant which opened and shut following the massive protest in Palakkad district several years ago.
Satheesan had raised this issue in the present Assembly session and at that time CM Vijayan had brushed it aside.
However, now with the relevant documents out, when the Assembly resumes its sitting next month, the Congress-led Opposition is gearing to raise this issue again.
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