Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan
Credit: PTI File Photo
Thiruvananthapuram: The 'secrecy' maintained by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the Enforcement Directorate summons to his son as well as his unusual meetings with union ministers are being widely used by the opposition Congress in Kerala to step up their attack against Vijayan.
It came out on Saturday that the ED Kochi unit in 2023 issued a summons to 'Vivek Kiran, S/o Pinarayi Vijayan, Cliff House, TVM' as part of a probe into a money laundering allegation, believed to be connected with an UAE agency funded housing complex construction for the homeless.
The Congress is asking why Vijayan as well as the CPM kept it a 'secret' even while the opposition parties at the national level are alleging that the BJP government at the centre was misusing central agencies against the opposition parties.
Vijayan was learnt to have kept the CPM also in the dark about the ED summons to his son.
Meanwhile, a breakfast meeting hosted by Vijayan to union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman earlier this year and his recent meetings with union ministers, reportedly without officials, are also being used by the Congress to allege that Vijayan was trying to compromise with the BJP government at the centre for sabotaging probe by central agencies against his son as well as daughter Veena T, who is also facing a probe in connection with shady financial dealings with a controversial mining firm.
Even as some CPM leaders are trying to defend the Chief Minister on the fresh row over the summons to his son, Vijayan is yet to react. He is also planning to go on foreign trips this month.