Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy has said that the submission by Communist Party of India (Marxist) State Secretary Pinarayi Vijayan to a CBI Special Court that former Chief Minister and present Defence Minister A.K. Antony be questioned in connection with the SNC Lavalin case appeared to a ploy to delay progress in the case.
Talking to reporters here on Friday, Mr. Chandy said Mr. Vijayan, when he was earlier questioned by the CBI in connection with the case, had not made any such submission. However, after the CBI had completed
questioning everyone, named Mr. Vijayan as the seventh accused in the case, submitted the charge sheet and sent summons to the accused, Mr. Vijayan had come up with the petition saying that allegations against
him in the case could be proved wrong if Mr. Antony was questioned.
The public, Mr. Chandy said, would undoubtedly consider this move of Mr. Vijayan as a tactic to delay the case further. On the possibilities of Mr. Antony being questioned, Mr. Chandy said the matter was sub-judice and that he did not want to comment on it.
Earlier, Mr. Chandy said the State Government’s hike of the paddy procurement price from Rs.11 to Rs.12 a kg appeared to be an attempt to eyewash the public. The Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government was
claiming that it had raised the procurement price of paddy by Rs.5 per kg since it came to power and that it was much higher than that offered by the Union Government. However, the procurement price of Rs.7 per kg when the UDF Government was in power was also higher than what the Centre was offering then, Rs.5.70 a kg.
Now, the Centre was offering a per kg price of Rs.9.50, apart from a handling charge of Re.1, taking the total price to Rs.10.50. The LDF Government was adding just Rs.1.50 and claiming before the public that it had hiked the price by Rs.5, Mr. Chandy said.
The Opposition leader also decried the CPI (M)’s proposed human chain protest on October 2 against the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement, saying that the CPI (M)-led LDF Government had done little to help coconut
farmers here and was instead harassing the farmers.
