Slamming Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, state Congress president K Sudhakaran on Wednesday said it is the first time that the name of a Chief Minister has appeared in the dollar smuggling case while adding that Vijayan has no right to continue to hold his post.
Speaking to ANI, Sudhakaran said, "No Chief Minister has been involved in dollar smuggling before this. It is the first time that the name of a Chief Minister has appeared in the dollar smuggling case. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has no right to continue to hold his post and should resign."
Terming the Kerala high court stay as a setback to the government, the Kerala Congress chief said, "The state government is ignorant about its rights. The ED is a central agency and the state does not have the right to probe against it. The Constitution has clearly listed the rights and duties of State and Central governments. There is no provision in the Constitution to register a case against ED by a state government."
Sudhakaran demanded the resignation of Vijayan from the chief minister's post.
"During the Solar case in the previous Congress regime, Pinarayi Vijayan had demanded resignation from then CM Oommen Chandy, stating that an administrator, who is accused of corruption, cannot continue as the chief minister. If he remembers this statement, then he should immediately resign as CM."
This comes backdrop of Customs in their show-cause notice to six accused in the Dollar Smuggling Case revealed that the accused Swapna Suresh and Sarith PS disclosed that Vijayan and former Speaker of
Kerala Legislative Assembly, P Sreeramakrishnan had sent foreign currency through UAE Consulate General Office.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Kerala Government received a setback after the Kerala High Court had stayed its notification constituting of a judicial commission, headed by Justice VK Mohanan, to conduct a probe against the ED officers, who are investigating the gold and dollar smuggling case. The state government had alleged that accused Swapna Suresh and Sandeep Nair were compelled to give statements against CM and other officials in the case.
( With inputs from ANI )
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