A day before the extended state committee meeting of CPM in Kozhikode, Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan has dared the Enforcement Directorate (ED) to prove the bribery allegations against him. He even cast doubts on ED and implied if the ED's letter was leaked even before it was officially handed over to the DGP.

The 25-page report submitted by ED seeking graft charges against Pinarayi is under legal scrutiny. A few months ago, Pinarayi had casually leaned back in his chair and said with a teasing smile that ED officials hadn't asked him anything during the raid at his rented residence.

On Saturday, a dour-faced Pinarayi reiterated his claim that the case against him was politically motivated, while calling out what he described as contradictions in the allegations made earlier.

He said that he had not offered any favours to CMRL during his tenure as Chief Minister and challenged those raising the allegations to furnish documents proving otherwise.

The government is awaiting legal opinion on the ED's report seeking to file corruption charges against Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan, his son-in-law and MLA P A Mohammed Riyas, and daughter T Veena over alleged monthly pay-offs between Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL) and Veena's now-defunct company, Exalogic Solutions Pvt Ltd. While Chief Minister VD Satheesan said the allegations extend beyond the prevailing narrative, both he and KPCC President Sunny Joseph maintained that a decision would be taken only after a detailed legal scrutiny.

Pinarayi, speaking at a press conference, termed the latest allegations nothing but a repackaging of the old campaigns unleashed against the LDF government, which, he said, had already failed to withstand judicial scrutiny.

However, he slammed what he described as a shifting narrative that contradicted earlier allegations. According to Pinarayi, the initial narrative alleged that CMRL incurred losses from its payments to Exalogic, while the latest one claims that the payments were bribes to secure favours from him.

Another point of criticism was the manner in which the issue was handled by the ED. "Ordinarily, when ED sends a letter to the DGP, it will not immediately be released. But here, it must be looked into whether the letter came out before or after it was submitted to the DGP," he said. Pinarayi also stated that he had not received any direct correspondence from the ED on the matter.

The former Chief Minister also cited Muvattupuzha MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan's legal battle, which reached the apex court but failed to establish the allegations.

Pinarayi then turned his criticism towards the Congress, which, he said, had strongly opposed the use of central agencies to further the BJP's saffronisation agenda at the national level, but was now colluding with the Centre in its "manhunt" against the Opposition.

"The central agencies are being used as the political weapons of the Sangh Parivar," Pinarayi said, terming the move the Centre's final bid to destroy the secular fabric promoted by the party.

However, he repeatedly maintained that such attempts, which he said had been made throughout history, had never succeeded and would not do so in the future either. "We have outlived and come forward after several of such attempts and will not be rattled by blank fires," he said.