Gold smuggling case probe on the right track: CM

‘Political parties entitled to their opinion about the inquiry by Central agencies’

September 22, 2020 08:51 pm | Updated 08:51 pm IST - Thiruvananthapuram

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said political parties were entitled to their opinion about the probe by Central agencies into the UAE consulate-linked gold smuggling case. However, the State government could only strike the view that the probe was on the right track, he said.

CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran had said on Monday that the Centre seemed hell-bent on destabilising the LDF government. It was using Central agencies for the purpose and the gold smuggling case as a pretext.

Mr. Rajendran had said it might be Constitutionally inappropriate for Mr. Vijayan to raise such a charge against the Central government. However, the CPI had no such limitation. Mr. Rajendran’s statement appeared to echo the growing rumblings of discontent with Central agencies.

By one account, LDF constituents felt that the high-profile questioning of Ministers and relatives of party leaders seemed calculated to cast the government under a permanent cloud of suspicion. The CPI(M) State secretariat had also expressed a similar sentiment recently.

Mr. Vijayan said by dragging Koran into the middle of political disputes, the UDF had earned the ire of their traditional support base. The Opposition had also imperilled the welfare of lakhs of Keralites employed in the Gulf by insinuating that the UAE was involved in smuggling gold into India.

The fire at the government secretariat was accidental. A short circuit had caused it. Investigators had ruled out sabotage. No critical or irreplaceable files were lost in the blaze. The police inquiry would continue.

Mr Vijayan said the anti-corruption investigation into the corruption in the construction of the failed Palarivattom bridge had reached its final stage.

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