CPI(M) slams Congress over row involving financial dealings of Kerala CM's daughter

The CPI(M) took a dig at the front saying they did not take up the controversy fearful of the reply by the CM in the House.

A day after the opposition UDF faced flak for not raising the row involving Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter in the Assembly, the CPI(M) on Friday took a dig at the front saying they did not take up the controversy fearful of the reply by the CM in the House.

The Marxist party also claimed that Vijayan's daughter T Veena had not done anything illegal and all the dealings of her IT firm were transparent.

Strongly defending Veena, senior CPI(M) leader and its central committee member A K Balan said money laundering allegation on part of her financial transactions with a private minerals company would not stand as all the dealings were through banks.

Veena had not done anything out of the contract signed between her IT firm and the Kochi-based Cochin Minerals and Rutile Limited (CMRL), he further said.

Attacking the Congress, which had earlier demanded a judicial probe into the allegation, he asked why the party-led opposition front did not raise the matter in the Assembly.

If the opposition really wanted to raise the issue in the House, they could have brought it as an adjournment motion, he said.

"But a section of its leaders lost their sleep thinking about the reply to be given by the CM in the Assembly against their notice for motion. That's why they didn't raise the matter," Balan told reporters here.

The senior leader also rejected the Congress's claim that there were technical issues in raising a corruption issue on the floor of the House as an adjournment motion.

If they had given in writing the corruption charges, the Speaker could not have denied their demand, he added.

A controversy erupted in Kerala recently over some financial transactions between a private minerals company and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's daughter T Veena and her IT firm.

Evidence has also cropped up that also showed that the company had dealings with top leaders of both the ruling CPI(M) as well as the opposition Congress-led UDF.

The issue came to the fore after a Malayalam daily recently reported that CMRL paid a total of Rs 1.72 crore to the CM's daughter between 2017 and 2020.

The news report, citing the recent ruling of an Interim Board for Settlement, said that the Kochi-based company previously had an agreement with Veena's IT firm for consultancy and software support services.

Despite the fact that no service was rendered by her firm, the amount was paid on a monthly basis due to her relationship with a 'prominent person', the report said, citing the deposition of the minerals company authorities before the Income Tax Department.

As the news report snowballed into a political row, the BJP attacked Chief Minister Vijayan and urged him to break his silence over the allegations cropping up against his daughter.

The Congress, however, went soft on the matter, prompting the saffron party to question the grand old party for not raising it in the ongoing Assembly session.

Leader of Opposition in the assembly V D Satheesan rejected the criticism by saying that even if the opposition had given a notice for adjournment over the issue, the CM would not have replied.

However, the ruling CPI(M) categorically rubbished the charges and claimed that the report was totally baseless, and that the CM's daughter received the amount as per the legally valid contract between her IT firm and the minerals company.