Congress leader and Vadakara MP, K. Muraleedharan, has sought the resignation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and asked him to face a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the seizure of 30 kg of gold from a diplomatic consignment at the Trivandrum International Airport.
At a news conference here on Thursday, he said that Mr. Vijayan should follow the example of his father, K. Karunakaran, who had stepped down when allegations were raised against him in the Rajan case after the Emergency in 1977 and the ISRO espionage case of 1994.
Mr. Muraleedharan said that the people who had been baying for the blood of his father were now silent in the gold smuggling case. That Mr. Vijayan feigning ignorance about the underhand dealings going on in the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) revealed that he was unfit for the post. The same lobby involving M. Sivasankar, who was removed from the post of Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister was behind the gold smuggling and also sabotaging the case of Muhammed Basheer, a journalist who was killed in a road accident in Thiruvananthapuram.
He said that the Chief Minister should have suspended the IAS officer instead of relieving him of his posts and sending him on leave. The Congress party would be forced to defy the COVID-19 curbs and take to the streets if a CBI probe was not ordered in the case, Mr. Muraleedharan said.
BJP steps up protest
The Bharatiya Janata Party in Palakkad intensified its protest against Mr. Vijayan by staging a march to the district collectorate on Thursday.
The protesters demanded that the Chief Minister must resign.
Police barricades stopped the protesters in front of the Civil Station. Some BJP activists climbed atop the barricade and continued the protest by waving the party flags.
The protesters threw COVID-19 caution to the wind by huddling together and lowering their masks even as Palakkad continued to be one of the most vulnerable districts for potential local transmission of SARS-CoV-2.
Youth Congress stages march
In Malappuram, Youth Congress activists took out a protest march to Assembly Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan’s house at Perinthalmanna on Thursday morning, accusing him of having connections with the culprits in the gold scandal and demanding that he step down from the post.
The marchers scuffled with the police who prevented them well ahead of Mr. Sreeramakrishnan’s house. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary V.A. Kareem inaugurated the march.