Amidst opposition unity, Congress and CPM spar in Kerala over Kejriwal's arrest

Thiruvananthapuram: While the arrest of Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Arvind Kejriwal has strengthened the unity among the opposition parties under I.N.D.I.A. bloc at the national level, in Kerala the ruling CPM and the Congress are making use of it to accuse each other for electoral gains.

The Congress in Kerala is alleging that even as the ED initiated probes into a slew of cases in Kerala, including the gold and dollar smuggling allegations involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's office, no further actions were being taken owing to the 'CPM-BJP nexus'.

Congress leaders are asking why the central agencies are not taking any action even as Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself stated that Kerala CMO was involved in gold and dollar smuggling.

The ED had initiated probes into the dollar and gold smuggling involving officials of the CMO as well as the UAE consulate in Thiruvananthapuram. ED also initiated probes into scams at various cooperative banks controlled by the CPM and a housing scheme funded by an UAE agency.

Kerala government's decision to raise funds for Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board by issuing masala bonds also came under ED probe. The Serious Fraud Investigation Office recently launched a probe into the shady financial transactions of a controversial mining firm with Pinarayi Vijayan's daughther's IT firm.

Congress alleged that even as central agencies were taking steps like arresting even chief ministers in some non-BJP ruling states, in Kerala, it was the officials who were being made into the scapegoats.

Congress also cited the inordinate delay in the proceeding on CBI's petition against the discharge of Pinarayi Vijayan in the SNC Lavalin corruption case.

"Central agencies are becoming silent when they probe into cases involving CPM leaders in Kerala," opposition leader V D Satheesan of the Congress said.

Congress also alleged a quid pro quo between CPM and BJP by inefficient police action in a case pertaining to a hawala transaction of Rs. 3.5 crore during the 2021 Assembly polls.

The money seized from Kodakara in Thrissur was suspected to be brought for BJP's electioneering in Kerala from Karnataka. Even as the state police probing into the case claimed that the matter was informed to central agencies, a senior official of the Income Tax recently stated that they were not informed of the matter by the Kerala police.