THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress and BJP have intensified their demand for the resignation of chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan in the wake of the enforcement directorate (ED) taking his former principal secretary, M Sivasankar, into custody in connection with the gold smuggling case.
Before Sivasankar’s arrest was recorded late in the night, opposition leader Ramesh Chennithalasaid, “If Sivasankar is the symptom, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan is the disease.” Sivasankar’s arrest has proved that the CM’s office is the source of several corruption cases.
BJP state president K Surendran said his party’s claims are being proved right, one after another. “[Sivasankar’s custody] is a setback to Pinarayi Vijayan’s attempts to torpedo the case. The CM had been trying to wash his hands of the allegations by citing lack of evidence. But there is evidence against him. The first call [to customs] to allow the baggage containing the gold through originated from the office of the CM. The call from the office of the CM should be understood as a call on his behalf,” Surendran said.