Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is understood to have held consultations with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] top brass here on the developments with regard to the gold smuggling case.
Party sources told The Hindu that the Chief Minister and the available party secretariat members discussed the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe and the Customs inquiry into the case. Since the government has already entrusted a panel headed by the Chief Secretary to probe the association of former Principal Secretary M. Sivasankar with the accused in the case, the party top has brass entrusted Mr. Vijayan to take adequate steps at the earliest.
The sources described as unfounded reports that there were differences of opinion between the CPI and the CPI(M on the action to be taken against the former Principal Secretary in the wake of media reports and the Customs interrogating him recently. Both parties were on the same page on the Chief Minister taking a final call without delay.
The party secretariat on Friday would take stock of the latest developments and chart out a course of action, the sources said.
Protocol violation
Meanwhile, Central government sources said that Minister for Higher Education K.T. Jaleel had violated protocol by directly interacting with the UAE Consulate officials here.
As per the Central Protocol Rule Book, Chief Ministers and Ministers outside Delhi are not expected to accept invitations from such institutions or its officials directly. Invitations for attending functions should be passed on to the Protocol Department and not directly to the Ministers, sources said.
Also Ministers should not accept donations more than ₹5,000 directly from diplomatic institutions. This rule also has been violated, the sources said.