Congress demands CM Pinarayi Vijayan’s resignation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Congress staged protests in all districts on Tuesday, demanding the resignation of CM Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with the gold smuggling case.
Inaugurating the dharna at Neyyattinkara, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala alleged that Vijayan was seeking an anticipatory bail by admitting the possibility of NIA investigating the involvement of his office in the smuggling case.
“It’s no secret that NIA is about to enter his office. CM knows it very well than anyone else. That’s why he is trying to reduce the impact of such a possibility. So, he is seeking an anticipatory bail on that. He has lost the moral right to continue in office,” he said. The dharna was organized in Neyyattinkara as the capital was in lockdown due to Covid restrictions.
It was CM’s principal secretary who helped the first and second accused. “If his principal secretary helped the accused persons, CM is responsible for the same. CM’s principal secretary means the chief minister himself. Whatever Sivasankar did must have been done for the chief minister only,” he alleged.
Vijayan has no right to continue in office by feigning ignorance about the appointment of an unqualified person in a key position in his own department, he added. “If he doesn’t know what happened in his own department, he should quit. It’s clear that CM and government are trying hard to save the culprits in the smuggling case. How come NIA sleuths swooped in and took into custody the accused persons in 24 hours while Kerala police could not trace them for days together,” asked Chennithala.
The dharnas were mainly organised in front of district collectorates and led by MPs, MLAs and KPCC office-bearers by adhering to Covid-19 guidelines, said KPCC general secretary K P Anilkumar.