The protests demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his alleged involvement of his office in the gold smuggling case will spread all over the State and the government need not attempt it defuse in the name of COVID-19 spread, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran has said.
Mr. Surendran said in a statement here on Friday that since Mr. Vijayan and his former Principal Secretary were in the shadow of doubt, the Chief Minister cannot escape the onus on the incident.
His office seems to have intervened. Industries Minister E.P. Jayarajan had said that those participating in the agitations would be affected by COVID-19. He was condemning mass agitations. The agitators were breaking the COVID-19 protocol when the government was attempting to suppress the agitations using the police.
He accused the government of using the spread of the virus as an opportunity for committing graft and as a means for securing funds for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)].