Thiruvananthapuram: The State government and the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI-M] seem to be in an imbroglio with the National Investigating Agency (NIA) being close to implicating the Chief Minister’s office.
The NIA’s arguments, nonetheless, point a finger at the CMO and it is to be seen if this would change the stance of the ruling dispensation on a continued probe by the former.
The CPI(M) State secretariat is likely to discuss the issue on Friday and the State committee on Saturday. The CPI(M) has been adopting the stance that the NIA was tasked with the investigation on a request by the State government.
Political observers feel the State government, even while being hard on Union Minister of State V. Muraleedharan for his reported interference took care not to provoke the Central agencies. CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan even said the Customs’ act of seizing the gold was a ‘brave’ act.
The NIA had told the court on Thursday the smuggling accused Swapna Suresh had considerable influence in the CMO. This came at a time when the Chief Minister had himself stated that the NIA investigation was moving in the right direction.
The State government had some respite as he NIA inference is that the now-removed Principal Secretary to Chief Minister M. Sivasankar had no direct links to the smuggling racket. But the government would find it unable to digest the fact that the agency had stated that Sivasankar was the mentor to some of the accused.
The opposition and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are once again making the NIA statements in court a weapon to seek the resignation of the Chief Minister.
The thinking in the CPI(M) is to move to an offensive mode in public meetings and debates by pitching the Ayodhya issue. Also, the party leadership is seriously deliberating the treasury fraud as well. LDF partner CPI had informed the CPI(M) of its displeasure over the happenings in the Treasury Department.
The state committee meeting will be held online and it will discuss and debate e decisions of the party Central Committee.