Thiruvananthapuram: The focus in Kerala these days is on the Lok Sabha polls that will take place on April 26 and also on whether the ED will question Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s daughter Veena Vijayan in an alleged money laundering case.
Till now, right from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to all the national leaders of the BJP who have been arriving in good numbers for election campaigning in Kerala, everyone has pointed out the massive corruption that has taken place in the CPI(M)-controlled cooperative banks and also the dealings done by Exalogic the IT firm owned by Veena.
Trouble started for Veena and her IT firm after this issue was first raised last year by Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan based on a media report, which quoted an Income Tax Department officer as saying that "Vijayan's daughter Veena's IT firm Exalogic had received Rs 1.72 crore from the mining company CMRL, in which the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has around 13 per cent stake."
Following this, the Registrar of Companies and Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) conducted a detailed probe and it was then the ED stepped in and by now they have questioned all those who matter in CMRL, including its CMD Sasidharan Kartha.
Sensing trouble, CM Vijayan who is known for playing to the gallery, has slammed senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who at his election rallies in Kerala repeatedly said that when two chief ministers are in jail, why is PM Modi going soft on CM Vijayan?
CM Vijayan hit back by saying that they were not scared of probes and jail as his (Rahul Gandhi’s) grandmother put them in jail during Emergency.
However, playing the waiting game and not one to lose any opportunity to hit out at PM Modi and CM Vijayan, the Congress top brass in Kerala constantly says that both the leaders are hand in glove as their common enemy is the Congress and they have already reached an understanding, hence nothing is going to happen in these cases.
Meanwhile, there are reports that the ED is all set to question Veena in the coming days.
All eyes are on if it will happen before the poll date and if it happens it could well be a rude jolt for CM Vijayan and the Left.