Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan has said people are intelligent enough to see through the timing of the vigilance probe ordered against him by the Chief Minister.
He was responding to the preliminary investigation by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau ordered against him over the alleged corruption in the Punarjani housing scheme for the homeless in his constituency.
Addressing a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Satheeshan said the CPI(M)’s mouthpiece had dusted off the old allegations against him when he accused that the illegal fund mobilisation for the Loka Kerala Sabha meet in the US was being held with the knowledge of the Chief Minister.
“The vigilance probe ordered against the Opposition leader when the Chief Minister himself is under the cloud would only expose the Chief Minister himself before the public. The move only showed how vindictive and intolerant the Chief Minister is,” he remarked.
Mr. Satheeshan said no fund collection was held for the Punarjani Scheme meant for the flood-hit. He expressed confidence that the VACB report would dub it as a model rebuilding project.
Mr. Satheeshan said that in a Facebook post the Chief Minister’s private secretary K.K. Ragesh had admitted to using Chinese cable for the K-FON project. He challenged to take action against the K-FON managing director who claimed otherwise.
It was not the Opposition but the K-FON partner KSEB that had observed that the cable was of low quality. The KSEB had shared that opinion with the Comptroller and Auditor General as well. A huge corruption had taken place in the use of Chinese cables, Mr. Satheesan said.
He accused the government of double standards in letting Student Federation of India (SFI) activists involved in criminal deeds go scot-free. Neither the accused in the exam controversy nor the SFI area committee secretary accused of impersonation in the Kattakkada college had been arrested yet. The Maharajas College Principal changed his opinion in the exam controversy involving SFI State secretary P.M. Arsho under duress.
