Kochi, April 17 With top officials of mining company CMRL being questioned, the CPI(M) in Kerala on Wednesday appeared to have resigned itself to the fact that soon Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan would be asked to appear by the ED.
Kerala CPI(M) Secretary, MV Govindan, reacted sharply when the question was put to him about Veena’s IT firm Exalogic being under the ED’s scanner and her questioning being more or less certain.
“What’s the big deal in it, when the ED acts like a mafia of the BJP-led government? With a Chief Minister now behind bars, the questioning of someone is nothing. The Centre is using the agencies and it has become very clear,” said Govindan.
Incidentally, Govindan’s statement came a day after CM Vijayan abruptly ended his press conference when a similar question was posed about his daughter.
The questioning of the officials of the Kochi-based mining company entered the third day on Wednesday.
Despite two notices being served by the ED to its CMD, Sasidharan Kartha, he is yet to appear before it, while three of the firm’s staff members and a former employee have been grilled by the agency.
Trouble started for Veena after this issue was first raised last year by Congress MLA, Mathew Kuzhalnadan, based on a media report, which quoted an Income Tax Department officer as saying that "Vijayan's daughter Veena's IT firm Exalogic had received Rs 1.72 crore from the mining company CMRL, in which the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has around 13 per cent stake."
The activities of the national agencies appear to have increased after Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, raked up the corruption involving CM Vijayan and his daughter at election rallies in the state.
It appears that it is only a matter of time that Veena will be served a notice by the ED and all that remains to be seen is will it happen before April 26, when Kerala goes to the polls to elect 20 new Lok Sabha members.
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