Thiruvananthapuram: One more minister in the Left Democratic Front government is in the eye of a storm. The latest who has been targeted by opposition is Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac. He has been blamed for leaking a final report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on the audit of the Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB).
Isaac said he was prepared to face any punishment for breach of parliamentary privilege, but ruled out resigning over the developments.
Isaac wondered why was so much sanctity being accorded to the CAG report, whether it be draft or final.
The CAG should have refrained from playing politics. Accountant General (AG) Sunil Raj who got transferred from here had created a lot of hurdles, Isaac told Manorama News in an interview.
The minister said he was open to detailed debate on the floor of the House if there were any procedural lapses. "I made these matters public after coming to know that there was a move to expedite the case pertaining to CAG audit in KIIFB in the High Court," he said.
Isaac accused the BJP-led central government of misusing constitutional bodies. This has not happened during the Congress regime. The CAG should function keeping in mind the constitutional importance of the position.
The minister said the CAG should clarify as to how things that were not in the draft report sneaked into the final document. If there was intervention from Delhi, then let the authority say so.
Earlier, they had conducted inspection in the KIIFB seven times but could not find any irregularity. The new report is a direct attack on the rights of Kerala. There is a dubious move to prevent Kerala from becoming the number one state in the country.
Issac said he didn't mislead anyone. “Since it was a different report compared to the previous one, he used the term 'draft'. Even the draft report is brought out in a printed format. Had the CAG not come up with a press statement, he would have corrected on getting the information.
The finance minister asked the opposition to come up with an alternative programme which they believe has more possibilities than the KIIFB, a government-run institution aimed at garnering funds for infrastructure development in Kerala.
