Thiruvananthapuram, July 23 (UNI) As the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Satur- day picked up West Bengal minister and Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee in a corruption case, the Kerala unit of the CPI-M appears to have caught a ‘cold’ literally. Things have not gone well with the Kerala unit of the CPI-M in general and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in particular, ever since the prime accused in the gold smuggling case, Swapna Suresh in June made damn- ing allegations and said that Vijayan, his wife, and their daughter indulged in smuggling gold and currency.
Following this, Congress and the BJP have been demanding that Vijayan either answer the questions Swapna has posed, or face a probe, which has both been dismissed by Vijayan. While the entire party is behind him organizing a series of rallies and public meetings, the state has been flooded with huge posters giving him a clean chit.
But, things turned sour on Wednesday for CPI-M and Vijayan after the ED approached the Supreme Court seeking a transfer of the gold smuggling cases from Kerala to Bengaluru. On Thursday, the ED informed the court that if allowed, they will file her confession statement in a sealed cover before the court. Ever since Swapna made the allegations, Vijayan for all practical purposes has completely gone ‘incommunicado’. His only interaction with the media was after June first week, that too through press releases from his office. Meanwhile, Swapna after earing the ED filing a petition to transfer the case to Bengaluru has wholeheartedly welcomed it. “For the first time, I feel positive that the case will come to its logical conclusion, as I myself have pointed out, that Vijayan is concerned only about his daughter, while women like me are being made the scapegoat in this case,” she said.
