The United Democratic Front (UDF) on Sunday alleged that Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac was deliberately trying to create a controversy over Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) draft report on Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) aimed at diverting public attention from the dire crisis facing the state government and the CPI(M) over gold smuggling and drug trafficking cases.
After Thomas Isaac targeted Congress and opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala in particular of being a 'B-team' of BJP, UDF leadership hit back alleging that he was acting as a 'puppet' to save CPI(M) and Left government from corruptions that central investigation agencies are probing.
"I only sympathise with Thomas Isaac, who plays the puppet, to help Swapna Suresh, the gold smuggler, and Bineesh Kodiyeri, who is embroiled in a drug smuggling case. Isaac has become a man who does not hesitate to degrade anyone with his political malice," said Ramesh Chennithala hitting back at Isaac at a press meet.
"The CAG report has not yet been released. Not a single minister in the history of Kerala or India has leaked the CAG report. Before the report was tabled in the Assembly, the Minister himself released it, insulting the Assembly and violating the rights of the Assembly. Violation of the Constitution by a minister who has been sworn in since the Constitution is a serious problem," he said.
Reacting to allegations by Kerala Finance Minister that Congress and the BJP were conspiring with the CAG for destroying development projects undertaken by KIIFB in Kerala, Ramesh said,
"No wonder Thomas Isaacs says so. Here it is said that the Constitution of India does not apply to the Left government in Kerala, constitutional institutions do not apply and laws and regulations do not apply. For that, Kerala is not a communist republic as I said earlier," he added.
He alleged that KIIFB's 'masala bonds' are unconstitutional. "This is a fact that UDF raised a long time ago. Article 293 (1) of the Constitution stipulates that the State's reserve fund should be borrowed only from within the territory of India. This means that borrowing money from abroad with a state government guarantee is unconstitutional," he said.
UDF leaders alleged that the money was borrowed by Kerala Government from abroad in blatant violation of this constitutional provision for the 'masala bond'.
Earlier on Saturday, after Issac held a press conference, accusing the Centre and the Opposition UDF of trying to sabotage the developmental activities, using central agencies and Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Chennithala, in turn, accused him of leaking a CAG report without tabling it in the State Assembly.
Issac had alleged that the CAG report is an attempt to state that KIIFB loans are off-budget and anti-constitutional.
"Vested-interest parties are using the CAG for destroying Kerala's developmental projects. Congress and BJP are engaged in a big conspiracy against the developmental activities in Kerala with the support of the central government," he said.
( With inputs from ANI )
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