The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) Opposition will make a political bid to move a motion of no-confidence against the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government when the Kerala Legislative Assembly convenes for a single day session on July 27 to pass the Finance Bill.
Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala said V.D. Satheeshan, Congress MLA, has given a notice to the secretary of the Kerala Legislature to seek the leave of the House to table the motion.
Mr. Chennithala said the Opposition was giving voice to mounting public disapproval of the Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s Office (CMO).
He charged that “gold smugglers, corrupt bureaucrats, anti-national elements, black-listed global consultancies, shady big data analytics firms had a free run of the CMO” under the watch of Mr. Vijayan’s former Principal Secretary M. Sivasankar.
The National Investigation Agency’s (NIA) probe into the smuggling of gold via the diplomatic channel of the UAE consulate appeared to edge closer to higher-ups in the government.
Speaker P. Sreeramakrishnan had “lowered the esteem” of the House by “incautiously” attending a function sponsored by Swapna Suresh, the second accused in the case . The UDF has given the notice to allow a resolution seeking his removal from the chair. Minister for Higher Education, K. T. Jaleel, had “accepted gifts” from the UAE Consulate without the approval of the Central government, he said.
Mr. Vijayan, who held the IT portfolio, had no choice but to oust Mr. Sivasankar to save his skin. The grave national security implications of the gold smuggling case and Mr. Sivasankar’s “close association” with the accused had become a political hot potato for Mr. Vijayan.
The CPI had frowned upon the Chief Minister’s attempts to shield Mr. Sivasankar. The CPI(M) leadership did not possess the will to rein in Mr. Vijayan. The party’s State secretariat meeting under way in the capital on Friday would merely rubber stamp Mr. Vijayan's diktats, he said.
The Chief Minister had tried to hide his embarrassment by using a “sham governmental inquiry as a fig leaf” of an excuse to suspend Mr. Sivasankar.
CBI inquiry
The Opposition would settle for nothing less than a CBI probe into the back-door appointments and corruption in the IT department under Mr. Sivasankar.
The CBI should probe the arbitrary hiring of a U.S.-based data analytics firm to gather and survey the health information of Keralites under the pretext of predicting the COVID-19 pandemic pattern in the State.
It should investigate the contracting of a black-listed consultancy for examining the e-mobility project, Mr. Chennithala said.
Kerala was appalled to learn that Ms. Suresh had bagged a plum post in the Space Project under the IT department by faking her academic credentials.
By some accounts, Mr. Sivasankar had got her the job by influencing a private placement agency and the global consultancy, which vetted her application.
He said Mr. Vijayan had by-passed reservation norms and the legal selection process via the PSC to appoint persons with dubious qualifications and questionable reputation in various projects of the IT department. The Customs had now learned that a “person on the CM's IT advisory board had helped” the smuggling case accused, he alleged.
Mr. Chennithala said the public wanted answers from the government. “The government might have the numbers in the Assembly. Technically, the UDF motion may fail. But, the debate on the no-confidence motion will take precedence on July 27, and it will showcase the failings of the LDF government,” he said.
