Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has said that the Oommen Chandy government is delaying the Vigilance investigation against Finance Minister K.M. Mani to save him in the bar bribery scandal.
He was inaugurating a Secretariat march organised by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) here on Tuesday.
Mr. Achuthanandan said the Chief Minister’s statement at the very outset that Mr. Mani was someone who would not indulge in corruption was intended to deflect attention from the charge.
ADVERTISEMENT
Although Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala had promised a quick verification of the veracity of the charges against Mr. Mani, there was no forward movement in the investigation, Mr. Achuthanandan alleged.
The Opposition leader said all the corruption charges against the government ultimately led to the Chief Minister. The government should not think that it would be able to save Mr. Mani by delaying the investigation. The LDF would go ahead with its campaign to expose the corrupt, he added.
Leaders of the CMP (Aravindakshan faction), JSS and the Forward Bloc were conspicuous by their presence in the march, in which hundreds of LDF workers participated. LDF leaders Kanam Rajendran (CPI), Ramachandran Kadannappalli (Congress-S), V. Surendran Pillai (Kerala Congress), G. Sugunan (CMP-Aravindakshan faction), among others, addressed the marchers, who reached the Secretariat gate from the Martyrs’ Column under the leadership of MLAs Koliyakode N. Krishnan Nair, V. Sivankutty, Jameela Prakasam and B. Sathyan, Mayor K. Chandrika and former Speaker M. Vijayakumar.
ADVERTISEMENT
The LDF is also organising marches to district collectorates on Wednesday across the State to press for Mr. Mani’s ouster.